God of shinobi
by Asimpleshadow
Summary: What if Minato never died and instead raised Naruto how would the Jinchuriki be different? Read and see as Naruto progresses to be the next God of Shinobi Rated M for future ideas Naruto U. x Fuu
1. Chapter 1 death of the demon

**Chapter 1: Death to the Demon**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own naruto and probably never will.**

 **This is my first time** **writing** **so hopefully it's well received I've been wanting to write this for awhile and just recently became motivated to do so. Basic idea is what if Minato didn't die and raised naruto. There are many similar to this idea but all different so I hope you all like my interpretation**

 **(Name is changeable haven't set this one in concrete)**

 **Naruto: God of Shinobi**

Night of the Kyuubi attack

Minato stared at his wife, one claw from the Kyuubi going right through her stomach. She looked at him and smiled "I'm sorry Minato but our son needs you in his life", she says tears streaming down both of their faces

They had both jumped in front of the claw ready to sacrifice themselves to protect their newborn child. At least they both were supposed to, however at the last second Kushina created one last chakra chain to collide with Minato barely avoiding the claw going through him as well.

He stared at her "K-Kushina please don't leave us it's not supposed to be this way he needs us both in his life we're both supposed to be there for him not just me."

"He'll have you and that's good enough I love you both protect our son from the man that did this teach him everything he'll need to know and be a great father Minato I love you both. Now I'm going to seal half of it in you and the other half in Naruto he will need its power, you both will, to defeat the man who did this.", She proceeded to do the seals to summon the Shinigami. It's hand reached into her and into the Kyuubi it then sealed half of it in Minato and the other half in Naruto.

Minato fell to the ground on his hands and knees, gasping as the pain in his stomach unbearable. He looked at Kushina who was on the ground now she looked at him and smiled "take care of him make sure he eats healthy watch out while he's around ero- Jiraiya sensei and Lady Tsunade don't let him pick up their habits and Minato I love you."

Minato looked up at her "I love you too Kushina, we will defeat him when he returns and our son will become a great ninja" the Shinigami then took her soul and the pain in his stomach subsided. There was barely any strength left in him but he needed to see his son. He crawled to Naruto "My son you will be great." Then the world went black

The barrier dropped and Hiruzen ran forward in his battle gear. "Oh Kami Kushina no." He ran to her but knew she was gone he then ran to Minato and with relief found a pulse. " MEDICS NOW WE ARE NOT LOSING HIM TOO!" He screamed causing Naruto to wake up and begin crying. Hiruzen walked over to the newborn child and picked him up gently rocking him back and forth "there there little one you'll be ok everything will be ok" the medics appeared and quickly did a scan of Minato and Naruto.

"Both are alright Minato is just suffering from chakra exhaustion he'll wake up in the morning tired but ok. And Sarutobi-Sama they both have the eight-trigrams seal, they're both the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi." Two of the medics then picked up Minato on a stretcher and shunshin to the hospital with Hiruzen in tow carrying Naruto.

The next morning

Minato awoke with a start "Kushina!" He screamed praying to Kami that it was all a dream. He looked around and saw he was in the hospital and saw Naruto waking up next to him. The Anbu burst into the room "Hokage-Sama is everything ok?",

"Yes I'm fine now I was just hoping that I woke up from a nightmare"

"We are sorry for your loss Hokage-Sama if you need anything we will be outside the door."

"Thank you bear, please inform Hiruzen-Dono that I have woken up I know he will want to speak with me

"Hai hokage-sama"

Minato then raised his hospital gown to inspect the new seal on his stomach. Everything seemed to be perfect he then inspected naruto's and found the same results. "Kushina I miss you already you did a fantastic job."

The aged Sarutobi walked in his face tired and drained. "Minato what happened?" Minato then told him everything of the masked man of him summoning and controlling the Kyuubi of their fight and finally of Kushina's sacrifice and his and his sons new status as jinchuriki's. "Jiraiya and Tsunade are on their way back I informed them after I brought Naruto here, they were close and should be here tomorrow at latest until then you need rest."

"No I need to talk to my people and inform them of what occurred and show that I am healthy, hopefully my status as a Jinchuriki will deter them from hating me or my son."

Hiruzen sighed and looked at Minato and saw the determination and strength return back to him "fine would you like me to send some Anbu to retrieve your clothes and some for Naruto as well?"

"Yes, and Hiruzen I'm sorry about Biwako she was an amazing medic."

The previous hokage turned to look out the window while tears began to fall down his face " I need to tell Asuma still."

The Anbu arrived with the clothing and food for all three of them. After they ate and got ready Minato picked up Naruto and teleported to hokage tower where a crowd was already formed wanting to know what happened to the Kyuubi and their Hokage.

Minato appeared in front of the building the crowd gasped slightly at the sight of his son. "Last night we suffered many losses I myself lost my wife Kushina Uzumaki." His voice was amplified so everyone could here him. More and more people joined the crowd to the point where majority of the village was in the area. A murmur spread across the crowd as no one even knew the Hokage had even been dating someone let alone married and had a child. "She sacrificed herself to seal the Kyuubi away in me and my son. We are Jinchuriki but we are not controlled by the demon as many as you believe. Kushina was the previous Jinchuriki and I know many of you were close friends with her. I love this village and its people but I will not stand for anyone disrespecting my son because they get the foolish thought that he is the Kyuubi. Repairs will begin immediately but for now the danger to this village is gone."

The was much talk around the village after that. Their Hokage was the container of the Kyuubi but he seemed the same, perhaps there was nothing to fear and he wasn't controlled by the demon. Not only that but he had a son! A son who will surely be powerful and continue to protect this village as a ninja and be as great a Shinobi as his parents. But there was also news that those who saw the Kyuubi claimed its eyes were red with three tomoe. Once Minato heard of this he immediately summoned Fugaku to the tower.

"Hokage-Sama you wished to speak with me?" The elder Uchiha said with a slight warmth.

"Fugaku you know there's no reason to address me as such, Minato is just fine. And as to why I summoned you here, I presume you've heard the rumors spreading about the Kyuubi?"

"Yes I have, and they are disheartening there is much distrust towards the Uchiha lately."

"It was an Uchiha who controlled the Kyuubi Fugaku, but there's only one Uchiha who can do that"

"B-But that's not possible he's dead!"

"If anyone could cheat death this long it's him, there's no one strong enough to control it or with the knowledge to be able to plan out the full attack, he's done it before it wouldn't be hard to do it again."

"Madara Uchiha is back, Minato I'm sorry this man is from my clan and-"

"Please Fugaku this man does not represent the Uchiha, one evil person does not represent everyone as a whole."

"Minato thank you, I almost forgot, Mikoto and I would like you to stay at the Uchiha compound we will help with raising young Naruto while you run this village and I know it must be hard to be home."

"I haven't stepped foot in the house yet, I haven't been able to yet and yes I accept your offer, thank you my friend.

 **Well I didn't mean for this to be so long, they usually won't be from here on out I just wanted to have the ground basis set for the story as the next chapter will already be Naruto in the academy about to graduate there will be some flashbacks to explain stuff here and there as well. Hopefully you all enjoyed this see ya guys next time**


	2. Chapter 2 Graduation

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but maybe just maybe I'll convince Kishi one day**

 **Wow thanks guys I was expecting honestly maybe like 2 or 3 people to actually see this so great that more did. Did not realize how short that chapter was ill try to make the next ones longer**

 **Chapter 2: Graduation Day**

"Naruto-kun come on get up you're going to be late!" Minato yelled at his son who was currently dead asleep upstairs in the Namikaze estate.

Minato had requested that he'd receive a house not a full compound seeing as it was just him and Kushina at the time. The house was huge to say the least three stories tall with a sub level that served as a training area. The first level served as the living, dining room, and guest area with 4 master sized bedrooms for any guests. The second level held four additional bedrooms meant for the owner and their family two of them occupied by Minato and Naruto. The rooms were huge and had privacy and protection seals to make sure no one uninvited could sneak in, well they could but they would be attacked by various poisons and kunai. The final level held every last bit of knowledge that Minato and Kushina had on their respective clans, they even traveled to Uzushiogakure to find if there was any left over scrolls or anything of knowledge left. They had in fact found several scrolls and heirlooms which were all held there as well as scrolls passed down and written by Minato on his clan techniques and his own.

The years had been well to Minato and the only noticeable difference was that his hair was considerably longer with it reaching the middle of his back and his bangs fell just passed his chin.

"Coming dad just finished getting ready." Naruto shouted as he jumped over the stairs. He wore a black shirt that served as armor due to various seals hidden on it. His Shinobi pants were a dark grey with several pockets with the same seals as his shirt. Over this he wore a black cloak with an orange flame pattern across the bottom. As much as his father tried Naruto refused to not have any orange on his attire since it was, according to him, the best color possible. On his right hand he wore a gold ring with an orange stone set in place, all along the ring were patterns of spirals in honor of the Uzumaki symbol and his mother. Minato consider the ring one of his best creations as there was two seals on it one for durability and the other one was a huge breakthrough for him, it allowed the user to transfer chakra into the stone where it would be held indefinitely until the user chose to draw it out. It could hold an indefinite amount of chakra, seeing as Naruto had huge amounts of chakra and could afford to dump copious amounts into the stone, it would be amazing for if the case should arise that he'd somehow be in a conflict and ended up with hardly any chakra.

"Alright dad I'm ready to go."

Minato went to his son and hugged him. He realized he hardly needed to bend down any as his son had gone through a growth spurt going from 4 feet 5 inches to an even 5 feet putting him at one of the tallest in his class.

"Your mother would've been proud of you Naruto, now let's head out and get you your headband, I'm so proud of you."

They walked out the door.

 **Other side of town**

"Sasuke-kun enough training you don't want to be late or be sweaty and dirty for your graduation!" Mikoto yelled at her son who was currently training with his older brother Itachi

"Yes Sasuke-kun we need to leave soon we have to meet with Hokage-sama and Naruto-kun."

"Hn good let get there soon want to have enough time to get in a spar with the dobe" Sasuke said with a slight grin. Itachi just rolled his eyes, ever since they were young his brother and surrogate brother had a strong rivalry but it had advanced their strengths and gave them a huge drive to constantly train resulting in both being easily the strongest in their class. Itachi and Sasuke then shunshined to the Namikaze estate meeting Minato and Naruto right as they walked out

"Ah Itachi-kun I've told you before contrary to what the elders believe, I don't need a bodyguard." After the Kyuubi incident and once Minato moved back to the Namikaze estate after spending three years at the Uchiha compound, the council deemed it necessary that Minato was to have a bodyguard with him at all times on top of the Anbu patrol. At first this manifested itself as Kakashi Hatake who was around constantly and even moved into the estate. Once he became a jounin sensei at the urging of Minato the council assigned Itachi who at the very least agreed to not move in with them.

"Sorry hoka-"

"Minato is fine Itachi you know that."

Hai, Hokage-Sama." Itachi said with a small smile on his face. During this exchange Naruto and Sasuke had been glaring daggers at each other with a thin stream of lightning flying between the two.

"Don't take it too hard when I show everyone today that I'm the better ninja Teme."

"Hn in your dreams dobe I've wiped the floor with you the last few spars."

"Alright you two try not to cause too much damage to the school please I can't deal with the paperwork." Minato then sighed and repeated more to himself than anyone else that damn paperwork. "Alright Naruto, Sasuke good luck to both of you Itachi and I will be there when you two get out we have a surprise for the both of you IF you pass." Minato said with a smile as he saw the determination almost visibly show as tiny flames appeared in both of the boy's eyes.

Naruto then gave his father a hug and Sasuke gave Itachi a hug then gave a small bow to the Hokage and then both used a shunshin to appear in the classroom in an instant while also knocking a desk over and scattering papers everywhere.

Iruka using his head grow jutsu screamed at the two soon to be Shinobi "DAMN IT YOU TWO HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I SAID TO NOT USE THAT JUTSU IF YOU CAN'T CONTROL YOUR SPEED NOW PICK EVERYTHING UP" his head then shrank down and he gave a small smile as the Jinchuriki and the Uchiha heir scrambled to pick up the most papers. Despite their antics he had to admit it was interesting to say the least to have two students who weren't even genin yet to be able to use the shunshin among other jutsu. They had already proven in their first year to be able to do the clone jutsu so their parents had requested their exam be different than anyone else's. "Alright everyone take your seats we will now begin the exams to pass, first up is Shikamaru." He looked around and saw Shikamaru asleep already in the back of the class and proceeded to grab a piece of chalk and launch it at his head waking up the lazy Nara. Once he got him on his way he continued the exams with everyone passing perfectly, well everyone except the young Uchiha and Namikaze.

"Iruka sensei what about me and Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked

"Shut up dobe" Sasuke said to Naruto, glaring daggers and yet again the stream of electricity sparking between the two.

"Yeah why haven't they gone Iruka how're they supposed to pass, become ninja and inevitably fall in love with me?" Sakura yelled

Both sweat dropped at this not wanting to hear the same speech again as they had heard it countless times.

"In your dreams forehead they're mine!" Ino yelled at the pinkete who then proceeded to stick her tongue out at Ino. Chouji then had to grab Ino to prevent her from attacking Sakura and causing a scene, as what usually happens almost everyday. The whole commotion was enough to wake up the lazy Nara who only uttered a simple "troublesome" before putting his head back down.

"Alright enough, Enough….ENOUGH LET ME TALK." Iruka yelled having to grow his head to comical proportions again to gain the attention of his students. It was times like these that he wondered if he would have been better off forcing the two to graduate after their first year, it sure would've saved him the trouble of girls constantly causing commotions to gain the attention of the heirs. Unfortunately for them ignoring the girls only seemed to make them try harder to gain their attention.

"Anyways if you had let me finish I was about to say that they will be given a different test seeing as they were able to perform the clone jutsu already. Now if you all would follow me outside we can finish the exams.

The student followed Iruka outside to the training grounds. "Alright Naruto, Sasuke, I was given special instructions from your parents Naruto your test will be to mak WHAT there's no possible way you know this jutsu. And Sasuke th-this isn't possible neither of you can do these tasks."

"Common Iruka sensei what's the test? We kind of need those if we want to graduate!" Naruto said to his teacher. Sasuke gave a simple nod and a "what the dobe said."

Iruka sighed, "alright Naruto your test is to make a rasengan with one hand and Sasuke you will need to perform the fireball jutsu using only the tiger seal. I don't know how either of you are possibly expected to perform these-" he stopped and could only stare at Naruto as he created a perfect rasengan and as Sasuke used the fireball jutsu using the one seal.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at him and raised their eyebrows as if to say "was that it?" Meanwhile the various girls of the class were going crazy about how cool they were. The young heirs could only roll their eyes. After Iruka came over his initial shock he could only smile at the idea of how powerful these two were. "Alright well I'm happy to say that all of you have passed, please come back inside to get your headband and tomorrow teams will be assigned first thing in the morning, I'm very proud of all of you today you begin your careers as Shinobi of Konoha and from here on out the challenges will only be tougher and tougher as your caliber as a ninja grows, today you are all adults in the eyes of the world and are no longer kids, I congratulate all of you my former students and new genin of Konoha."

"Alright teme I think now would be a perfect time for a spar so I can kick your ass in front of everyone."

Sasuke looked over at the blond and gave a small smile " just what I was thinking dobe don't take it too hard when you lose."

They both dashed forward meeting in the middle as their fists collided creating a small shock wave where their fists collided. Both jumped back and Naruto dashed forward sliding on his knees to avoid Sasuke's punch. Immediately after his fist passed over the blonds hair he turned around aiming to punch the back of sasuke's knee. Sasuke jumped and spun connecting with Naruto's chin on a roundhouse kick sending him flying, Naruto flipped in mid-air and landed on all fours immediately pouncing back to the Uchiha. They exchanged a flurry of punches and kicks none of which connected until Naruto focused chakra into his fist then thrusted forward shouting "fuuton:Gale fist!" The attacked released sending a ball of condensed air straight into Sasuke launching him away. Taking advantage of this the young Namikaze sped forward and jumped using the same roundhouse kick the Uchiha used previously, sending him flying into the building. Sasuke bounced off the building and Naruto ran under him, grabbing his leg and slammed him down into the ground. He then began to charge chakra into his fist again for the same attack and right as he sent out the compressed air Sasuke flipped around shooting a small fireball the resulting explosion giving him enough time to get away. Naruto had quickly pulled his cloak over him protecting him of all damage from the explosion. They ran forward again and at about 20 feet from each other both simultaneously shouted "Katon: grand fireball jutsu!" The attacks flew at each other creating trenches as they moved. They collided and canceled out in an explosion that sent both heirs flying back.

"Alright you two that's enough for today" Minato said as he appeared right in between the two with Itachi appearing moments later.

"Hogake-Sama, Itachi-Sama, I'm sure you will be pleased to know that they both passed the exams." Iruka said with a small and a hint of pride in his voice.

"Did they now, well Minato I suppose they do deserve their surprises then do they not?" Itachi asked.

Minato smiled and pulled out two scrolls and tossed them to Naruto and Sasuke. "Alright boys see what's in them, I'm sure you will like them." They put a small amount of chakra into the swords and with a poof their gifts arrived; two nearly identical katanas with a gold round cross guard and for Naruto's an orange hilt and for Sasuke a black hilt. Naruto's blade had a slight green tinge to it and Sasuke's had a slight red tinge to the metal. The swords edges were serrated.

"There's special seals on them as you can see by the color, Naruto channel chakra into your blade and Sasuke you do the same." Minato said to the new genin. They did as they were told and sasuke's blade immediately lit aflame and Naruto's gained a slight blue haze around it that also lengthened the blade considerably. "Naruto yours channels wind chakra regardless if you change your chakra nature and Sasuke yours does the same with fire. This feature can be turned off if you quickly put two burst of chakra into the blade and can be turned on the same way. The scabbards for the blades attach to your back with a special seal on them all you have to do is put it on your back and it'll stay, only you two can use your blades as I've put seals on them that prevent anyone else from using them. If someone were to well the blade would first send a jolt of electricity and then become dull."

"Thank you dad, thank you Itachi Niisan." Naruto said. Sasuke looked at his older brother and his Hokage and gave similar thanks, truly appreciating the swords and the work that must've gone into crafting them.

"Alright how does bar-b-que sound to you guys?" Minato asked them. All three agreed and they headed over to the nearest spot to celebrate.

 **The next day**

"Alright everyone settle down I know you're all excited to see your teams now team one will consist of." Iruka went through the list of teams the reached team seven. " Alright team seven will be Naruto Namikaze, Sasuke Uchiha, and-"

Both Sakura and Ino could be seen at this point crossing their fingers and saying prayers to kami to be on that team.

"And Sakura Haruno."

"YES YES YES A TEAM WITH BOTH OF THEM TAKE THAT INO-PIG LOVE ALWAYS WINS" Sakura and Ino then proceeded to toss insults back and forth while Naruto and Sasuke dropped their heads on the desk with an audible "thud"

"Of all people we got stuck with the fan girl, of course, she better not hold me back I'm not babysitting her while we're on missions." Sasuke said

"Could be worse teme she is smart so she has that going for her, as far as everything else though...well she's book smart I should say." Naruto said with a forced cheerfulness as he attempted to find a silver lining with the pinkete being the third member.

"Alright team 8 will consist of Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuuga." The three new team members all looked at each other and gave a smile indicating they were, with the exception of one blue haired girl, happy with the overall team.

"And team 10 will be Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka." At this the blond haired girl dropped her head complaining about the team while thinking that she couldn't believe her parents were forcing them into the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition. "Troublesome woman" was all the lazy Nara had to say.

"Alright everyone get with your teams your jounin sensei's should be here any time now."

One by one their sensei's came and went until only team 7 was left, two hours after everyone else had already gone. Naruto and Sasuke, who figured out already that their sensei had to be Kakashi as no other jounin would dare be this late, just sat and worked on chakra control exercises while Sakura switched between complaining about their sensei being late and trying to get either boy to go on a date with her. Finally after 2 and a half hours Kakashi arrived.

"YOURE LATE!" Sakura yelled much to the annoyance of Sasuke and discomfort of Naruto.

"Well a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way around" Kakashi said with his trademark eye smile.

"Your excuses are getting worse Kakashi-Niisan, you know that right?" Naruto told his and his father's former roommate and bodyguard

"Hm what was that Naruto?" Kakashi asked making his voice as sincere as possible to which Naruto could only sweat drop. "Alright team meet me on the roof." And with that the cyclops vanished in a poof of smoke.

The 3 genin quickly followed with Naruto and Sasuke leaving with a shunshin leaving Sakura behind to walk up the roof by herself.

"Finally, we've been waiting for you Sakura." Naruto said with a flat voice, while he didn't hate her like Sasuke seemed to he also didn't like her and saw her as a liability for upcoming missions. _I'll have to ask her to do one on one training with me afterwards hopefully a few weeks of that should at least improve her skills enough_ Naruto thought.

"Alright now that we're all here how about you tell me something about yourselves hm what're your likes, dislikes, goals, things like that?" Kakashi said.

"Why don't you go first so we know what you mean." The pinkete asked her new sensei. At this question all three of the men rolled their eyes.

 _What's there to know the question is self explanatory. Oh well I guess I have to humor her, maybe I would've been better off watching Minato-sensei constantly._ "Uh alright well I'm Kakashi Hatake I like many things as for my dislikes well I don't want to tell you those and as for my goal well that's private." Kakashi said giving an eye smile while all three of his students sweat dropped. "Alright uh pinky you go first."

She glared at him first then said "I'm Sakura Haruno, I like, well the people I like" she then glanced over to her left and right looking at her two teammates then blushed " I dislike Ino-pig and my goals" she then looked again at the two boys who only rolled their eyes.

"Uhm alrighty then Naruto why don't you go next."

"There's really no point Kakashi-niisan you and Sasuke already know about me."

Kakashi just sighed and looked at his student "just do the exercise Naruto"

"Alright my name is Naruto Namikaze, I like ramen, training, and beating Sasuke-teme at sparing, I dislike when tousan doesn't let me eat ramen for breakfast or when ero-sennin is being a pervert, as for my goal I want to become strong to protect the people I care about and become the greatest Hokage, even better than tousan."

"Sasuke you can go now."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, I like when Niisan and tousan train me and teach me new jutsu, I dislike the dobe, and my goal is to become stronger than Niisan and tousan and become clan head."

 _Alright well those two I don't have to worry about I already know their strong but Sakura on the other hand_ he then glanced up at her and saw her already attempting to get either boy to go on a date with her _yeah that's going to be fun she's smart but as far as everything else, she needs some serious training and I highly doubt that she even knows why she wants to be a Shinobi._ "Alright team well that was fun, tomorrow meet me at training ground 3 at 5 in the morning and don't eat breakfast otherwise you'll throw up." Kakashi said with a hint of malice "alright see you then." He said cheerfully then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto looked at Sakura and saw that there was a hint of fear after what Kakashi said. " you know he's lying right?"

"What? How do you know?"

"He's a ninja and not just any ninja he's a former Anbu they're trained in deceit he's obviously lying so that we show up tomorrow half starved and weak, oh and he's at the very least 3 hours late to anything so show up a few minutes before 8. Sakura if you want to join us me and teme are going to train with Itachi-Niisan with our swords, you can train with your kunai."

 _He's inviting to go with him! But it's to train I don't want them to see me sweaty and dirty though._ "I'll just go and watch"

"If that's all you're going to do then don't come." Sasuke said already walking away

"Alright fine I suppose I could train." _I'll just stop once I break a sweat._

The trio headed towards the training ground and met with Itachi who showed the boys a new style, he and Minato had taught them different ones before using wooden swords as they had wanted them to know how to properly use the blades before they got them. After Itachi showed them a kata he worked with Sakura on her accuracy and how to throw a kunai using the least amount of energy but getting the most power from the throw. They all trained until nightfall and headed back to their respective houses.

The next morning the three genin met at the training only having to wait about 10 minutes before their sensei arrived. He had been expecting to receive looks of anger or frustration at the least but nothing and on top of that they all looked like they had just ate. He glanced over at Naruto and Sasuke and saw smug smiles on the both of them. "You know you two could at least let me have some fun." He said slightly disheartened at the fact that they ruined what he considered "fun".

"No can do Niisan what's usually fun for you isn't fun for me, actually it usually ends in me being injured you jerk."

"Huh sorry Naruto did you say something?" He then smiled as the blonde grumbled to himself and was visibly annoyed. _Well at least that still gets a rise out of the kid._ "Anyways team your mission is to collect these two bells." He held them up and they chimed slightly with the wind. "Only two of you will pass the other will be sent back to the academy to redo the full fourth year."

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO US THAT HAS TO BE ILLEGAL."

I can and I will do it you all are now my students, well at least two of you will be, and what I says goes I am your jounin commander. Now you have till noon to get the bells and begin." Kakashi said in a cold and serious voice sounding angry and harsh. He smiled to himself though when everyone dashed away once he said begin. _Well at least they're smart enough to do that, however Naruto and Sasuke will figure out soon that this is really about teamwork._

Naruto dashed away but he kept sight of where Sasuke and Sakura went. _Three man cells don't exist only four, three genin and a jounin there's no way he can send one of us back, no he'd have to send all of us back so why did he tell us only two would pass. Wait we have to take them from him there's no way a genin can take on Kakashi, hell I can't even do that by myself me and Sasuke maybe but we're not average genin so that would mean THAT'S IT. He used the scare tactic to get us to separate and build distrusts between us one person can't do this alone the actual exercise is about teamwork. We would put ourselves aside and worry about a team as a whole that's what this exercise is about. Crap I need to find Sasuke and Sakura otherwise we won't have any chance of passing and I'm not going back to school for a year._ After searching for a bit he finally found Sasuke and after that it wasn't too hard to find Sakura he informed them of what the exercise is actually about then they proceeded to make a plan.

 _Hm it's already been half an hour and I haven't any of them. I'd like to read my book but that's not going to be possible with Naruto and Sasuke here._ He heard a rustle in the bushes and Naruto walked out "You know while you may be good you're not strong enough to take me one by yourself."

"I'm never by myself Kakashi you know that." His hands went into a familiar cross shape and he shouted "shadow clone jutsu!" Two copies of him appeared and all three unsheathed their swords, one of the naruto's slashed horizontally across shouting "fuuton: wind slash" a large wave of wind with the cutting power of the blade flew at Kakashi who then jumped in the air. "You're going to have to do better than that Naruto!" One of the clones had been condensing the air underneath his feet and once Kakashi was at his peak the clone jumped "fuuton: compression jump" the air pressure released as the clone jumped launching it into the air. Right when he was slightly below Kakashi the clone performed the same attack timing it so that Kakashi would fall into the deadly crescent of wind. It appeared that the attack hit severing his knees from his body but as he hit the floor a poof of smoke appeared at the spot and when it cleared a severed log laid in his place.

 _Hm that was good but he's working by himself still I'd have thought for sure they figured it out._ Just at that moment he heard the distinct sound of a blade being drawn and he flew out of the tree that was serving as his hiding, a large wave of fire chasing after him. The jounin landed on the ground with Naruto in front of him and Sasuke behind him.

"Dobe now!"

Naruto and Sasuke charged at Kakashi holding their blades behind them. "Fuuton: severing tornado" Naruto shouted as he jumped and spun in a circle landing with his sword point forward, a large tornado appeared and flew forward destroying the ground as it moved forward. The same Naruto did this Sasuke jumped and slashed downward shouting "Katon: tremor explosion" as his blade hit the ground a red crack appeared moving fast towards Kakashi. He raised the blade shouting "release" creating an explosion that connected with the tornado causing an even larger explosion destroying the area Kakashi had been occupying. At the last moment he had shunshined into the tree. He smiled to himself as that certainly counted as teamwork. He then felt a kunai against his head.

"Got you Kakashi sensei you shouldn't have let your guard down." Sakura said a large smile appearing on her face.

Kakashi smiled and shunshined to the middle of the field. Sakura jumped down and the boys stood by on guard still. "You all pass. The point of the exercise as you've figured out was to work together. In this Shinobi world those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum this exercise was to make sure you all could put yourselves aside and worry about the team as a whole I'm proud of the three of you. We are now officially team 7 congratulations.

 **Hopefully you all liked this if there's anything that I did wrong or just have CONSTRUCTIVE criticism tell me please again this is my first story so any advice is welcome thank you all. I should update again in a few days for the most part I know how I want this story to go so I should update within a few days constantly, although the new update for destiny did just come out...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer I don't own Naruto but I am planing a trip to Japan where I will find Kishi and somehow convince him to pass the rights to me, if anyone has any ideas on how I will do this please tell me.**

Chapter 3

"You know when we became Genin I thought we'd be going on exciting missions saving lives kicking bandit's asses, not CHASING AFTER THIS DAMN CAT TWICE A DAY FOR THE 10TH DAY IN A ROW." Naruto screamed as he Sasuke and Sakura were currently chasing after the bane of all genin teams: Tora the cat. "COME HERE YOU STUPID CAT." Naruto shouted as he leaped forward, arms outstretched in a vain attempt to catch the cat as Tora just gained a burst of speed just barely running away from being captured. The young Namikaze coughed and sputtered grumbling under his breath as he got a face full of dirty from crashing into the ground instead of catching the cat.

"You're father is the fastest Shinobi alive, you'd think that his son would've inherited that speed!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto as he ran forward continuing the chase with Tora.

"Stupid teme stupid cat stupid lady who loves that damn cat too much, alright teme wants to see speed fine." Naruto then stood up and closed his eyes as he concentrated and focused chakra, sending it to all his limbs. He opened his eyes and then he was gone. He appeared several yards in front of Sasuke, stopping just inches away from crashing into a tree, with Tora in his arms. He had been working on that technique, a slightly more advanced form of the Shunshin by pumping more chakra into his body giving him double the speed of a usual shunshin but also less control than he already had as it gave him awful tunnel vision to the point where he couldn't distinctly see what was in front him, so up until this try it ended with him crashing into a tree, going through a few several times.

"Was that fast enough teme?"

"Hn" was the Uchiha's only response. He was about to say something else but Sakura had caught up to them and immediately ran right to Naruto's side. "That was so cool Naruto-kun you looked just like the Hokage running that fast that was great."

"Yeah uh thanks Sakura." Naruto said as he attempted to slowly scooch away from his rather affectionate teammate. Luckily for him their sensei arrived as his team had completed their last mission of the day and it was time to turn all of them in and receive their pay, and he had a special surprise for the three genin who had been completing nothing but D ranks, several a day at that, for close to 3 weeks now.

"Naruto be careful with that technique you were inches away from going head first through that tree."

"Yeah I know sensei I'm still working on it."

The four of them walked back to the center of the village, giving Tora back to the fire daimyō's wife on their way to the mission return center next to Hokage tower. After they turned in all the missions they had completed that day and then received their pay, Kakashi turned to his team with an eye smile on his face and said "Alright team I have a little surprise for you all, as of today we've done enough D ranks to be allowed to complete a C-rank, we have an escort mission and we are leaving tomorrow morning."

"FINALLY, I finally get to test my skills against someone." Naruto shouted enthusiastically while jumping in the air.

"Ah ah ah Naruto it's a C-rank escort so hopefully we won't encounter anyone, it should be straight-forward we accompany our client to the Land of Waves and watch him as he finishes building a bridge then we come back, simple."

At this Naruto, Sasuke, and even Sakura actually looked disappointed, though she looked less than the boys did.

"Alright team we're leaving at 6 in the morning go home let your families now and pack I'll see you all tomorrow." And with a smile and a wave Kakashi was gone in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto-kun do you want to go-"

"Sorry Sakura I have to go train and uhh pack."

"Oh… Sasuke-kun do you want to go out to eat right now?" She turned and saw that Sasuke was already gone. She then looked back at Naruto with an almost pleading look in her eyes.

 _Great I guess I have to go with her stupid teme could have at least told her no or give a reason as to why he couldn't I can't just walk off now after that she'd probably be crushed._ "Alright Sakura where do you want to-AHH" before the Namikaze could finish his sentence Sakura grabbed his hand and ran taking off at full speed with Naruto trailing behind her trying to get his footing after being dragged so forcefully so fast.

After a few minutes they arrived at Naruto's favorite place, Ichiraku Ramen.

"I know this is your favorite place Naruto-kun so I figured this would be the best place for our first date." Sakura said with hearts in her eyes while Naruto blushed a deep red hue.

"Listen Sakura this isn't a date so much as just two uhh comrades getting something to eat, more like team bonding ok?" He didn't want her getting the wrong idea, while he did think that she was cute she was still a fangirl and still a weak link in their chain, not someone that he wanted to date or consider dating at the moment.

"Oh, alright Naruto just continue to play hard to get, I'll get you on a real date with me one of these days." She said with a smile. Naruto smiled back at her, after that they ordered and ate their meal doing rather little talking as Sakura just enjoyed his company while Naruto wasn't too sure what to talk about. Once they finished eating Naruto paid for the food and told Sakura goodbye.

It was already late at night when he got home, the lights on showing that Minato was already home as well.

"Tousan I'm home!"

Minato teleported down to the first story of their house, right in front of Naruto, who had a huge smile on his face as he knew his dad as given them their mission. "Thank you for the mission tousan, but Kakashi sensei told me that we probably won't get too fight at all."

"What have I told you Naruto? Don't actively go out seeking violence and enjoy the peace. Fighting and violence and hate should never be sought after, but that's not to say you shouldn't alway be prepared for it. That's why we train and get stronger, not to seek it out but to be able to protect our precious people when it does find us."

At this Naruto looked down and offered an apology as his father had told him this same speech before. He had told him that he was so similar to his mother who was constantly getting into fights and could be somewhat hot-headed and quick to temper at times. He had told him this with a smile though and said to not change, but tone it down a little which Naruto had been working on, he was just excited for his first actual mission outside of the village.

Minato grabbed his son in a hug and ruffled his hair, eliciting a laugh from his son. Despite being considered an adult by most already his son was still 12 and after this mission he would assign them more and more c-ranks where he will fight and inevitably take a life and then soon after B's the A's until he was taking S-ranks and all traces of this innocence and childish would be gone so he'd be damned if he didn't cherish every moment of spending time with his son while he still had his innocence.

"Alright you need to go pack Naruto and don't forget to store more chakra into your ring, if you complete this mission I'm going to teach you a new training method sounds good?"

"How about that and a new jutsu?"

"Hmmmmmm no"

Naruto fell on his face at this response, once he picked himself back up he glared at his father "why not?"

"Because with this new technique you'll be able to learn everything much faster than you were before so this alone is enough reward."

"Ah you can't teach it to me now? Please tousan please?"

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm no" Minato said then laughed as his son once again fell on his face. "You have to complete your mission this is your reward for completing it not being assigned it."

Naruto looked at his dad with a frown then sighed as said he needed to pack he ran up to his room while Minato teleported back to the training room where he was currently working on perfecting the rasengan. After all these years he was still having difficulty combing the jutsu with a chakra nature, given he didn't get to work on it as often as he liked due to his duties as Hokage and training his son taking up a good majority of his time.

He created a rasengan in his right hand then put his left hand right over it and applied wind nature chakra too it. At first nothing then he heard a slight humming sound and then small blades protruded out of the sphere. And then, like every attempt previous, the jutsu exploded and he landed on his back with tears in his clothing. "Ah well attempt 25 failure as well." It was at this point he felt a surge of chakra that filled him with dread. He instantly teleported to his son's room as the only time he had felt something similar was the Kyuubi itself. When he got to Naruto's room he saw that his son was in a deep meditation and he was drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra and immediately sending it to the ring.

"Naruto…NARUTO!" His son was still in meditation but with the demonic chakra flowing around him it was too dangerous to touch him. Thankfully his son was only in this state for another minute before he opened his eyes to see his dad staring at him with a questioning look.

"I'm assuming you're wondering what I was doing?"

"Yes I was, if you were to draw on the chakra wit the amount you've put in the ring you'd immediately lose control to the fox so what exactly are you trying to accomplish?"

"You said I should have chakra stored in here in case of an emergency, well if I'm in a fight that actually drains me then something is definitely wrong so I've been working on a jutsu that will allow me to shoot rapid bursts of the chakra out of the ring, a final trump card that packs one hell of a punch similar to bijuudama but on a much smaller scale that also shoots much faster."

His father thought about this technique, if his son were weakened from chakra exhaustion then it would be safe to assume that an enemy rather than killing him with a jutsu would get up close and use a ninja tool to finish the job. If they were that close then all Naruto would have to do would be to raise his fist to the enemy and shoot, being at close enough range the blast wouldn't even explode instead would just go right through someone. He looked down and smiled at his son "well hopefully you won't have to resort to that technique but it is a very effective one."

Naruto smiled and told his father that he needed to finish packing and then go to sleep. His father again ruffled his hair and told him to be careful then he teleported back to the training area to continue his project.

The next morning the Jinchuriki jumped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed his pack, and headed out opting to, like his godfather, take the window. The second he hit the ground he took off in a sprint to the gate. Kakashi was already there being early for once and soon the other members of their team arrived. After about 10 minutes after everyone arrived their client, their bridge builder, arrived.

"Alright team this is our client Tazuna."

"You know when I paid for an escort I was expecting actual ninja like you not 3 children who are still wet behind their ears and their babysitter." As the man said all of this they could almost see the alcohol on his breath as even a civilian standing far away could probably smell it while he talked.

Kakashi, choosing to answer for his team as they all seemed rather angry and offended for being called children said "I assure you Tazuna-San my team is more than capable for this mission and if anything should go wrong I am an elite, a jounin so everything will be ok."

"Hmph right well let's get going then we're wasting daylight." The old bridge builder answered before he began to walk off out of the gates."

The group followed after him and continued to walk. At his current pace they should arrive at the land before the sun set. The group continued walking with nothing occurring for a few hours until Naruto spotted a puddle in the middle of the path.

 _It hasn't rained in days there's no way that's natural, and I can sense a chakra signature these guys are really bad but tousan has told me before the fall of great ninja comes from being too arrogant I shouldn't underestimate these guys._ After thinking this Naruto then tossed a sideways glance at Sasuke, they gave each other a subtle nod and continued walking past the puddle. Once they passed Sasuke and Naruto sent chakra to their ears to better hear and after about 10 steps they heard something make a slight ripple on the water and then heard the sound of a chain.

Kakashi jumped in front of everyone, "Protect the bridge builder!" He charged at the demon brothers who managed to get their chain around the jounin and pulled splitting him in pieces. Naruto saw the log fall though and knew Kakashi was testing them. "Sakura protect him!" Naruto and Sasuke then drew their blades and charged at the brothers."

"What're you kids going to do we just killed your sensei you guys have no chance." The brothers ran at them with their claws, aiming to hit their hearts. Both boys stopped the attack with their swords and held the brothers at a stand still. Naruto swung up, throwing the his opponents arm upwards, then charging chakra through his blade swung down cutting right through the chain the brothers had connecting them. Naruto ducked as the brother slashed and then he thrusted forward. The brother jumped back and to the side but Naruto's blade was extended with wind chakra and so he caught the brother on the side, the wind blade sliding right through his flesh. "Argh, you're dead kid you hear me I'm going to cut your head right from your damn shoulders." Naruto looked at him and smiled then he charged and jumped over the brother creating a shadow clone in mid air. They kicked off of each other one in front and the other behind their opponent. "I'd give up now if I were you otherwise you're going to die." The brother charged at the Naruto in front of him who he once again attempted to slash at and was stopped by Naruto's blade. The brother looked behind him and saw the clone running at him. He jumped at the last second avoiding the deadly swipe the clone had made. Seeing an opening he ran at Sakura and the bridge builder. Naruto saw this and focused chakra to his entire body and ran forward his sword held pointing forward at his side with both hands. He didn't see as the sword ran his opponent through as the speed blurred his vision. He only stopped when he felt warm liquid on his hand. The sudden stop caused the brother to jolt forward off Naruto's blade and face first on the ground. He dropped his sword and his whole body became shaky. He looked down and saw the blood covering his hands then he looked forward and saw the life giving liquid in a large pool around the now dead demon brother. His breathing came in short spurts and he almost yelled when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Kakashi looking down on him with a sadness in his eyes.

"It's ok Naruto it's ok, he would've killed Sakura and the bridge builder if you hadn't done that, we are Shinobi and we must kill in our line of work otherwise we will be killed, that being said it should never come easily we are not emotionless killing machines. Are you ok Naruto?"

"Ye-yeah I will be." He then looked around and saw two other Kakashis, one with Sasuke who was standing over the other demon brother who was covered in burn marks and cauterized blade slashes, probably giving Sasuke the same speech, and the other one was with Sakura and the bridge builder. Sasuke's eyes were wide and he was shaking as well. The trio regrouped and the two extra Kakashi disappeared.

"Alright Tazuna those were B-rank missing-nin now tell me everything or me and my team leave you here right now. Tazuna then told them of Gato and how he was destroying his home and the bridge was their only chance. Kakashi sighed and looked down at his team, their faces telling him everything he needed to know.

"Alright Tazuna let's go we will continue to protect you."

The group walked and after a while a mist surrounded the group after walking a few more miles they could see a lake in the distance and a boat close by them. Tazuna boarded the boat and Kakashi told them all to stay hidden as Gato had guards keeping watch for Shinobi everywhere. After a short boat ride they arrived to the other side of the lake and got out.

"Alright we're not too far from my house." As he said that Naruto threw a kunai into the bushes and a white rabbit came running out with its eyes wide open.

"What the hell are you doing do-"

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Kakashi yelled grabbing Tazuna as he dropped to the floor as a huge cleaver like blade flew overhead and imbedded itself in the tree right next to them. A tall ninja wearing only black pants and striped leg and arm warmers landed on the giant cleaver like sword.

"Ah Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan eye and his brats, I'm assuming you killed the demon brothers then." The mysterious ninja said in a deep and raspy voice.

"Zabuza Momochi otherwise known as the demon of the mist, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura surround Tazuna protect him." _I can't afford to hold back against him I have to end this fast and soon while Naruto and Sasuke are skilled they can't fight someone like this._ He then reached up and lifted his hitai-ate up revealing the blood red eye with three tomoe surrounding it.

 _What?! Whose eye is that? Itachi or Otousan have never said anything about anyone outside of the clan having an sharingan._

"Revealing the eye already Kakashi? I feel honored that you are going all out in this fight. Hahaha it's been awhile since I've been in a fight against another elite Shinobi. Let's see what you've got Kakashi!" Zabuza shouted as he jumped down grabbing the handle of his blade and ripping it from the tree as he ran at full speed at his opponent. Kakashi drew a kunai and charged it with raton chakra and blocked the downwards strike inches before it cleaved his head in two. After a stalemate in strength the two Shinobi jumped away from each other and at the exact same time started an incredibly long chain of seals Kakashi copying and doing the seals Zabuza was performing instantly. The team of genin could only stare in awe at the ability of Kakashi, to be able to copy those seals in an instance, there was absolutely no delay in their execution of seals. "Suiton: Water dragon Jutsu!" Both Shinobi shouted at the same exact time creating identical dragons that crashed into each other showering everyone. A faint outline of a smile could be seen under the wrappings on the demons face as he performed another seal and two clones of Zabuza rose from the puddles closest to the trio. In an instant Sasuke and Naruto had their blades drawn, the water everywhere was creating steam once it made contact with sasuke's blade making it much harder for him to see. He sent two short burst turning the fire off then he channeled chakra to his blade so it would still have added strength and sharpness. The clones did and overhead swing crashing into the two genins swords causing them to sink into the wet ground. Naruto sent chakra to his right arm giving him enough strength to let go with his left arm and create a rasengan thrusting forward into the clone dispelling it but still receiving a gash on his shoulder as his arm gave out at the last second. He ran towards Sasuke who was still barely managing to hold off the clone. He already had a few minor gashes on his body. Naruto pointed his sword forward and extended the length with wind chakra as fast as he could attempting to get the clone across its back. Unfortunately the clone kicked Sasuke away and jumped away out of harm's way.

"Kakashi those brats of yours are better than I thought the blond one was able to take out one of them already and the other one hasn't died yet either." Zabuza said as he and Kakashi again clashed against each other, Zabuza with his blade and Kakashi with two kunai now.

"Katon: fireball jutsu!" Both Sasuke and Naruto shouted trapping the clone with no way to escape. The two infernos collided then dispersed leaving only steam in the air where the clone had been.

Zabuza and Kakashi continued in a fierce me jutsu match but Zabuza was getting the upper hand it had been a while since Kakashi had fought with a sword, he was out of practice and Zabuza was gaining the advantage. Kakashi swung down as he swung up. Kakashi held the blade down then sent lightning chakra through his kunai into Zabuza's blade electrocuting the demon of the mist. He screamed in agony as it burned him. He let go then stomped on the handle sending the blade up break Kakashi's guard. He delivered a savage kick to Kakashi's torso and smiled as he felt at least one rib snap as the kick sent him into the lake. The demon then disappeared and reappeared behind the genin and behind Tazuna. Right as he was about to strike Naruto and Sasuke turned and thrust forward nearly getting the demon. He was again gone and appeared next to Sasuke who he picked up and threw into a tree knocking him out as he his his head. Sakura ran at him with a kunai to which Zabuza just laughed and delivered a swift blow to her stomach dropping her leaving her deprived of air. "Just you now blondie if I were you I'd move away and let me kill the drunk, you'll live longer that way."

Naruto looked at the man and realized how out classes he was. One look and he felt fear but he felt one other thing, the one thing he pulled on and drew out creating a small shapeless shroud around him of orange chakra that turned his eyes red and gave his pupils a slit appearance. "A Jinchuriki huh well this will be fun then." Zabuza swung the cleaver and Naruto not only blocked the attack but also cut a bit into the blade as his sword now had demonic chakra running through it increasing its strength and cutting power ten fold. Naruto then disappeared and reappeared behind Zabuza, his speed would be almost impossible for most genin and some chunin to follow.

 _Hmm the boy is almost as fast as Haku._ Naruto then kicked forward, Zabuza spun around and stabbed the tip of the blade into the ground blocking the kick. _No he's faster than Haku as he is now, this will be fun._ The demon lifted the blade and spun it throwing Naruto off balance and open. Zabuza dashed forward delivering an elbow to the demonic boy's stomach and then he spun delivering a savage roundhouse to his chin sending Naruto flying away. As he was walking toward the frightened Tazuna Kakashi jumped from the lake shouting "raton: Lightning gun!" He pointed at Zabuza with his index and middle finger and a bolt of fast moving electricity shot towards Zabuza who jumped away narrowly missing the attack. As he landed he heard behind him in a deep savage voice **"Secret technique: demonic ring multiple blasts!"** Zabuza took off sprinting as Naruto who was now making a fist and pointing towards Zabuza shot off blasts of chakra that created small explosions as they made contact with solid objects. Naruto got one right in front of the Shinobi forcing him to jump over it, Naruto then shot at him again, just barely grazing his leg, causing the demon to yell while he was propelled into a tree, the pain as the chakra burn and poison was almost instant raked through him. Kakashi took advantage of this and threw several kunai into his arms and legs pinning him to the tree and causing him to yell again in pain. Kakashi walked over to him holding a kunai.

"This is your last battle Zabuza, make your peace now." Kakashi said as he raised his kunai holding it right to his heart. Right as he was about to plunge the blade into him two senbon came flying in stabbing the demon in the neck electing a groan from his as his head fell forward and his body slumped, held up only by the kunai. Kakashi turned around and saw a hunter-nin standing in the trees.

"Thank you for your help in taking down the demon, lord Yagura will be very happy as he has many secrets of kiri." The hunter dropped down and removed the kunai then picked up his body and threw it over their shoulder. Sasuke and Sakura came to at this point and looked up seeing the hunter nin disappear and the last wisps of red chakra fade away from Naruto.

"Kakashi Sensei!" "Naruto-kun!" Was all Kakashi and Naruto heard before both of their worlds went black.

 **Well that was a longer one, took longer than I expected too but as usual let's continue to get this story spread. I hope y'all liked this and if not leave a comment on what I could do better see you all next time, after the next chapter I will reveal the pairing as well see you guys next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hopefully you guys liked that last chapter the land of waves arc will be finished here then I'll probably jump right into the chunin exams, there's not much need for filler this early into the story and I have a few surprises I'm working out for the chunin exams as well after the next chapter you guys should have a pretty good idea of who the pairing will be hopefully you guys like this one.**

 **Disclaimer: don't own Naruto but one day Kishi one day I will.**

Chapter 4: The Demon of the Mist

"They're waking up!"

"Are they ok?"

"Serves them right trying to be heroes against Gato."

"Inari go to your room!"

All the voices blurred together and sounded far away to the young Jinchuriki, it was the pain in his right hand that brought him to. It was right on his ring finger was a dull burning sensation that came in clearly at first then the voices came in clearer and clearer and then his eyes opened and the first thing he saw was Sakura who was inches from his face. "Gah, Sakura what are you doing?!" He felt his face turn red.

"Just making sure you're ok Naruto-kun you and Kakashi sensei scared us, me and Sasuke-kun had to carry him back and Tazuna carried you."

"Kakashi sensei." Naruto said while sitting up and quickly scanned the room finally landing on his sensei who was still laying down but had his head turned so he could look at Naruto. "Kakashi sensei are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine Naruto just a little case of chakra exhaustion." He said with an eye smile.

"Tch he can't move he woke up about 30 minutes before you and wasn't able to move at all." Sasuke said.

"How long have we been out?"

"Only a couple of hours not too long." Sasuke said

Naruto took off his ring to inspect the burning there. The skin was still raw and red but not as bad as it must've been after he first used it. Hmm have to have tousan look at that this could be problematic later on if I continue to use it or use it too much in one go. He then channeled his regular chakra into the ring and the burning went away and his finger healed almost instantly. The seals can't properly filter out bijuu chakra tousan should be able to fix that but I'm going to have to bear with it until we get back.

"Kakashi you said you have chakra exhaustion right?"

"Yes why?"

Naruto then channeled more chakra into the ring and made a fist pointing at Kakashi. Wisps of chakra were visible as they arced into the stone then flew out in a thin stream into Kakashi.

"Tell me when you have enough chakra sensei."

The seals on the ring also allowed chakra to be shared between Naruto and others so he could also replenish their chakra supplies if the need were to arise.

After a few minutes Kakashi was able to sit up then after about 5 he was able to stand and told Naruto to cut the flow. Even after all that Naruto hadn't even broken a sweat or looked tired at all.

"Ah much better thank you Naruto."

Before Naruto could respond Tazuna yelled from downstairs that breakfast was ready, making the team realize how hungry they all actually were.

"Tsunami these are the ninja that I hired to save us the adult is Kakashi, the pink one is Sakura, the one with black hair is Sasuke, and the blond one is Naruto."

"Pleasure to meet you all, thank you for coming to our aid, as you know by now Gato will destroy this place and it will become just another source of money for that evil man." Tsunami said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Don't worry Tsunami-san we will defeat Gato and save this place." Naruto said with a smile that quickly fell from his face as a little boy came down from the stairs and shouted at them with tears in his eyes "You all are idiots there's no such thing as a hero, Gato will kill you all and then he will continue with his plans you all should just leave before you die."

"Inari! Enough of that." Tazuna yelled at his grandson. Inari then ran up to his room and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

"I'm sorry about that, Inari's step-father was killed in a public execution, he was considered a hero by the people of this land and seeing him killed like that for trying to oppose Gato destroyed Inari, and the people's hope. Many of them had given up until my father began to build the bridge, bringing everyone's hope back but Inari, well you've just seen how he is still." Tsunami said, tears threatening to fall down her face.

"We will defeat him and with that bring back Inari's hope I promise you that Tsunami-san." Kakashi said looking at the hopeful faces of his team. The team then ate their breakfast made by Tsunami then went out into the woods to train, Kakashi needed to work on their team work somewhere and teach Sakura chakra control techniques and hopefully some jutsu.

"Alright Naruto, Sasuke I'm fairly sure you both know how to tree walk." Both boys nodded "Alright Sakura I need to work on that with you, in the meantime I want both of you to work on chakra control exercises, your chakra control can never be too good and I have a few jutsu I want to teach you, I have a 1000 after all." He said with an eye smile. The boys then went to work sticking as many leaves as possible to their bodies while running on water as there was a small pond next to where they were training at. Kakashi then showed Sakura the tree walking exercise and told her how to accomplish it and to his shock she made it up halfway on the first time. _She has incredible chakra control it shouldn't take too long for her to get this down, she'd be good with genjutsu and any techniques that are within her capabilities should be learned rather fast, I wish I had chakra papers with me so I could start her off on her elemental training. I want to train the boys in another jutsu I'll teach Naruto a wind jutsu and Sasuke another fire, their collaborations are good another one won't hurt._

The copy-ninja looked out at the boys running on water and Sakura running up the tree steadily getting farther each time. He figured no better time than now to read his book and he plopped down next to a tree and pulled his book out. After an hour he heard someone walking over to him and looked up seeing Sakura. He then looked behind her and saw a slash across the very top of the tree. He called the boys over as well from their chakra exercises. "Alright team Zabuza isn't dead." There wasn't a look of shock on any of their faces. "We figured that, hunter-nin don't use senbon and they didn't strike the jugular or his spine, the fake hunter-nin is his partner." Sasuke said

"Yes exactly and it takes skill to throw senbon for precision like that, they could have very easily hit somewhere vital and well that would be the end of the demon so Sakura I'm going to work with you on your taijutsu and Naruto, Sasuke I'm going to teach you both new jutsu for a collaboration technique, Naruto I'll teach you wind bullet and Sasuke I'll teach you fire bomb, combined that should create a very fast, very deadly firestorm. Kakashi then created two clones to go work with each genin. The main one went with Sakura as he felt she needed his attention the most.

"Alright Sakura I'm going to block and I want you to hit me dead center of the block with everything you have I need to see how strong you are first."

She nodded then reared back and threw a punch forward pushing Kakashi back by 5 feet, surprising the hell out of him. _She's strong if she keeps working at this her strength will be quite devastating, not something anyone would want to be on the receiving end of._ With this knowledge in mind Kakashi began teaching her a new taijutsu style as she only knew of the one taught at the academy. This style focused on fast and powerful punches that aimed at vital points on the body to disable and kill opponents. He wanted her to at least have the style first and then work on her speed as her expertise grew.

One of the clones took Naruto aside and showed him the jutsu first then the seals. "Alright Naruto I want you to get to the point where you don't have to hit your stomach to launch the bullet, this will decrease the time it will take to launch the attack and if you don't have to rely on that to propel the bullet the strength of it should be better than if you did rely on hitting your stomach. So I want you to perform the seals then immediately take in as much air as you can hold. While doing this focus the chakra to your lungs at first and hold it there, form it into a ball holding the air together then just like exhaling but not everything at once release a small portion of it trail the chakra up your throat and have everything explode out of your mouth." Naruto did all of this and his first attempt a small ball of compressed air shot out and dented into a tree.

"Alright good you have the general idea of it. Now just have to get everything down into its final form just keep practicing, but that was a good first attempt."

The clone with Sasuke took him to the edge of the pond as they were in the woods and didn't want to set the place aflame.

"Alright Sasuke you should have a pretty good grasp of fire jutsu, this one is more like a combination of the Phoenix flower jutsu and the fireball jutsu. You start off as you would with the Phoenix flower jutsu but then add more chakra and create only one ball of fire. Condense the chakra down and focus on increasing the strength while creating the ball as small as possible then shoot it out as fast as possible when it collides with an object it should expand then explode. The more power the larger the explosion." Kakashi then performed the technique shouting "Katon: fire bomb jutsu" launching the small ball into the water. Nothing happened at first then all of the water around where the ball had landed shot up violently. "Alright now that you've seen it you try." Sasuke did as he was told and shot out a larger ball into the water. The explosion was less than Kakashi's but still a decent size. "Good you have the general idea just work on condensing it and shooting it faster, Naruto's wind bullet will be flying quite fast so you won't have much time to combine them."

The trio worked on their new techniques all day until night fell and it was time to go back to tsunami's house. Each genin was making fast progress with their skills but Tazuna went back to building the next day meaning one of them would go with Kakashi to help keep watch while the other two stayed and trained.

"Alright dinner is ready everyone." tsunami said as the team walked into the house.

Four thank yous' were heard as each member of the team gave one.

"Sakura do you have any problems with keeping watch with me tomorrow?" Kakashi asked.

"No sensei that's fine and I can still train some while we're watching." This mission had really put things in perspective for the girl as she had been completely useless in both fights and had to rely on her two "loves" to rescue her. She knew they wouldn't love someone weak and so promised herself that she'd begin taking this seriously and train hard to get strong enough for one or both, preferably both, to fall in love

"I'm going back out to train a little more Kakashi sensei." Naruto announced just as he finished his food. He then washed and put the plate away before leaving to go back into the woods where he would train until falling asleep out there.

A girl, maybe a year or two older than Naruto, wearing a pink kimono that had designs of flowers on them, was walking around the woods. She was carrying a woven basket on her left arm that had been filled with various herbs and by the looks of it she was still looking for others. That is until she saw someone asleep in the grass. _That's the boy who injured Zabuza-sama. Because of him he was suffering chakra poisoning, I almost lost him from that, if he had any less chakra the poison would've killed him._ She then pulled out two senbon and put them between her fingers. As she was about to throw them Naruto stirred and quick as lightning she hid the weapons and walked out in front of him.

Naruto woke up to seeing a beautiful girl right in front of him. As he was just barely waking up and not thinking properly he muttered angel causing the girl to turn a shade of red. He opened his eyes and turned beet red at the realization of what he just said. He immediately shot up causing the girl to stumble back slightly.

"Uh hello there." Naruto said with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, I was out here collecting herbs and well it's not all too often you see someone asleep out in the woods."

"Ah yeah hehe I kinda fell asleep out here after training."

"Ah you're a Shinobi?"

He looked around and saw the signs of destruction from him trying to perfect the drilling wind bullet. _Yeah pretty obvious that I'm one._

"Yes I am" he said with a smile and pride in has voice.

"You must be very powerful, the damage to this area is quite impressive."

"Hehe thanks I'm always trying to get stronger, if I may ask why are you out here?"

"I'm out collecting different herbs"

"What're they for?"

"My father was attacked by Gato's men, we don't have enough money to go to the doctors but I know a bit about which plants help along healing."

 _Missions are supposed to be kept secret from others but these people need hope and need to know Gato's control over this place will soon end. These people don't need to live in fear any more and what can be the harm she's a civilian and she's been affected by Gato and his men even more than others._ "I'm on a mission actually, in a few days you won't have to be afraid of Gato, I'm here to protect the bridge builder."

"You're so young taking on such a task can't be easy for you."

"I'm a Shinobi, the second I earned my hitai-ate I became an adult, age itself doesn't matter in this life there's children who are stronger than my sensei and taking on this mission will make me stronger as well."

"Why do you want to get stronger? Do you have someone precious in your life?"

Images flashed through his head of his friends and family. "Yeah I have a lot of people that are precious to me that I want to be able to protect one day."

"That's good you find true strength when you fight for someone precious other than yourself you push more and use everything that you have to protect them."

"Yeah I believe that too."

"I don't believe I know your name? I'm Haku."

"Naruto."

"Well Naruto I enjoyed talking to you, I must be on my way though, my father is expecting me back soon."

"I'd like to talk to you again soon Haku, maybe tomorrow around the same time?"

"Maybe Naruto I do hope so, and just so you know, I'm a boy."

The blond froze at this then focused chakra to his nose. "Hm no you're not, I thought I smelled something before but now I know for sure it's coming from you, you're wearing a perfume and actually there's a faint outline of bindings under your kimono." He said with a small grin as his new friend seemed taken aback by this.

"Well you are observant, I say that because-"

"Because of Gato's men right?"

"Yes because of them."

The new friends parted ways and walked back to where they were expected.

"Where were you at dobe?"

"Just training teme, you need to pick up the slack otherwise my jutsu will over power yours."

He looked over at Naruto and saw he seemed to be distracted, and the grin he had on wasn't the same one he wore while he insulted Sasuke. "Hn" was his response as Naruto walked away.

The days passed by and each morning Naruto and Haku met with each other and talked and talked, just about anything. He began to trust her more and told her bits and pieces of his life while she did the same revealing that she and her father were refugees from kiri to escape the war. They hadn't been fearful or held hate for bloodline users and so they were forced to flee or be executed. He told her that his mother was killed shortly after he was born and of his rivalry with Sasuke and general life as a ninja. They talked about their interests and hopes and wants for the future, for Naruto to become Hokage and for Haku to finally find a peaceful life and protect anyone she would come to find precious. He didn't know when it had happened but after awhile he couldn't see her without blushing at first and after that he realized she was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. She soon began blushing almost every time they made eye contact. But the the thought kept lingering in the back of her head, making it hurt when she looked at him. She knew she would have to fight him soon but hopefully she could fight him before Zabuza got to him at least that way he'd live. She was so angry with herself to let him slowly worm his way into her and become someone she cared for.

The days soon came and went until it was their last meeting, Kakashi had told the team the night before to be prepared, Zabuza had enough time to heal and he'd be making his move soon. Haku knew they were attacking the next day and she was so tempted to tell him everything but she steeled herself and held her tongue, they were so close to accomplishing Zabuza's, and as a byproduct her, goal, to finally assassinate Yagura and take back control of Kiri. They needed the money from this job though so they could get the last resources they needed. The ends justified the means as Zabuza told her when she was required to kill.

"Haku-chan"

"Naruto-kun" they both said at the same time. "Go first Naruto."

"Our mission should be over soon, so there's a possibility that I won't be able to see you, so this is it. Thank you Haku-chan for everything."

"Thank you as well Naruto-kun, maybe we will see each other soon."

He went in to hug her but at the last moment she put her hands on his face and pulled him in. Their lips met. His brain shut off for a few seconds then after he realized what was happening he closed his eyes and kissed her back their arms wrapping around each other in a tight embrace. For a moment nothing else existed for either of them, no missions, no Gato, no ninjas. Only them. And that's all that mattered for the time. Then it ended, their lips separating and their foreheads resting on each other's as they looked at each other, a deep caring and passion in their eyes.

"Thank you Naruto-kun" she said then before he could say anything back she let go and walked away from the boy she fell in love with, tears threatening to fall down her face. He looked at her as she walked away and it clicked that he wouldn't be seeing her for a very long time, he can't exactly leave the village to come here whenever he wanted to. The first girl whose feelings for him he reciprocated and he wouldn't see her again. He began to feel a dull ache in his chest while watching her walk away. He stayed there until he couldn't see her anymore. After a bit a small thin smile came across his face and he touched his lips. A bittersweet moment for him in every sense.

He walked back to the house the same smile still etched on his face.

"Something happen out there Naruto?" Kakashi asked a smile underneath his mask. The last few days Naruto had come back smelling of lavender and now he had that smile on his face, the same smile his father had whenever he would talk about or see Kushina.

"Huh you say something Kakashi sensei?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at his student and looked at him with a smile underneath his mask _We're on a mission Naruto you shouldn't be getting involved like this, live and learn I suppose, but he will have to learn the ways of a Shinobi soon something like this can prove dangerous on missions, we have to be emotionless in certain situations._ He didn't voice any of these thoughts though, he already knew Naruto would find this out once they left and he would no longer see the girl. He was pretty sure that Naruto already knew this but it would hit him in full force once they arrived home. "Naruto go get Sasuke and Sakura they're out back training still I need to talk to you all."

Naruto went out and told them to come inside. Him and Sasuke had been working on their jutsu although Naruto's was still stronger as he had been working on it more and had more chakra to pump into it but over all their collaboration technique was good and was quite powerful. Sakura had been working on her taijutsu trying to make it stronger and stronger which had come with some success her attacks were stronger than before but she had a lot to work on. That being said a direct hit in the right area would hurt a lot and if a genin were to take one they'd most likely end up with a few broken bones.

The trio gathered inside and their sensei looked at them, the previous joking manner he had now gone replaced with the deadly seriousness of a Shinobi. "Tomorrow will most likely be it, Tazuna doesn't need much longer to finish the bridge and Zabuza will have had enough time to completely heal from everything so you all need to be prepared and ready for another fight. This is a different battle ground now, he knows our skills and he'll have his partner with him. We all need to be at a hundred percent so that's enough training for now, make sure you have all your equipment and we'll go over battle strategies." They agreed upon Naruto and Sasuke taking on Zabuza's partner and Kakashi taking on Zabuza himself. Sakura would guard Tazuna. Naruto would only call upon the Kyuubi if it was absolutely necessary and they prayed to Kami that the situation wouldn't arise. They spent the rest of the day going over different strategies for fighting but it was hard since they had no idea what Zabuza's partner's abilities are.

 **The next day**

The group arrived at the bridge, an unnatural and thick, stifling mist hung around the entire area.

"This isn't normal, team get close and cover Tazuna."

"Hidden Mist Jutsu." A demonic raspy voice echoed throughout the entire area. The mist thickened to the point where it was almost impossible to see in front of them. Then two figures walked forward, the mist moving away from them allowing the team and a frightened Tazuna to see them as they walked forward.

"Time for a rematch Kakashi." Zabuza looked down at his partner,"Go take care of the three genin." Zabuza and Kakashi dashed forward just as Haku dashed towards the trio guarding Tazuna. Zabuza's blade slashed through the air and Kakashi's kunai sparked to life. As they clashed Zabuza increased the chakra in the jutsu completing concealing himself again. "Your eye will do you no good here Kakashi."

"I don't need to see you to defeat you."

"You should worry about your brats, Haku will kill them I've trained the perfect weapon."

"I wouldn't worry about them Naruto and Sasuke together can handle themselves they have been trained by some of the best in Konoha."

While Zabuza and Kakashi clashed against each other Haku had been throwing senbon at Naruto and Sasuke trying to separate them from Tazuna. The mist made it hard to see but they could still hear the sound of the needles flying towards them, their blades blocking each senbon before it hit Tazuna. The mist then cleared from them giving perfect sight of Haku right as she yelled "Secret Jutsu: A Thousand Needles of Death"

"MOVE!" Naruto yelled. Sakura grabbed Tazuna and jumped one way while Naruto and Sasuke both jumped towards the fake hunter-nin, barely avoiding the needles as they ran towards her attempting to strike the ninja down.

"Fuuton: crescent slash"

"Katon: crescent slash"

The boys yelled at the same time opting to try the new version of their Justus. The waves now were only the length of their blades instead of the length of the slash itself but they were more curved increasing the speed and power of the attacks. The attacks hit the spot Haku had occupied resulting in deep slashes on the area but Haku had dodged the attack completely.

"I can't afford to take chances with you two, I'll have to use my trump card hyoton: demonic ice mirrors" a dome of mirrors appeared around the boys trapping them in. The fake hunter-nin then walked into one of the mirrors and appeared on each one not giving away her actual position.

 _Hyoton. No please no. That's a Kekkei genkai that was found in Kiri. Please don't let it be her. A refugee from Kiri with only her father. She knew how to apply medicinal herbs. The last time I saw her I could have sworn I saw tears dropping while she walked away. Please don't let it be her. Please Kami no._ Naruto could no longer dwell on his thoughts as his and Sasuke's opponent began throwing kunai from seemingly everywhere.

"Naruto the mirrors are ice"

"Right"

"Katon: fireball jutsu"

"Katon: fireball jutsu"

The Justus combined making an even larger fireball that crashed into the dome. When the flames cleared though, the mirrors were perfectly fine, not a scratch on them.

"You're going to have to try harder than that to break my mirrors."

Naruto dashed forward, his sword glowing with the amount of wind chakra going through it. He slashed once he was close enough to a mirror. The mirror stopped the blade dead in its tracks and earned Naruto several senbon to his body. He looked at Sasuke and nodded his head. They performed the seals and shouted

"Fuuton: drilling wind bullet"

"Katon: fire bomb jutsu"

The techniques shot forward and once they combined the boys shouted "collaboration technique: fire bomb bullet!" The small ball of condensed flames combined with the spinning bullet and shot forward at incredible speeds smashing into the mirror and causing a large explosion creating several cracks in the mirror. The boys saw this and shot towards it. Just as they were about to reach the mirror the hunter nin appeared in front of them and launched more senbon each one striking the boys sending them flying back.

"You can't defeat me, both of you just admit defeat now and I won't be forced to kill you." Their opponent said in a flat and cold voice.

"I have a few more aces but this one should do the trick." Naruto said as he held out his hand forming a rapidly spinning blue ball of pure chakra. He ran forward and Sasuke attempted to follow Haku's movements so he could send out blasts of fire to block the incoming senbon towards Naruto as he ran towards a mirror. As he got closer Haku threw more and more senbon making it harder and harder for Sasuke to keep track until he felt a burning in his eyes and suddenly time seemed to slow down and he could see her movements easier and easier and see the senbon going forward. Sasuke blocked the attacks with ease and just as Naruto slammed his attack into a mirror shouting "rasengan" and shattering it, Haku shouted " hyoton ice needles" and rapidly formed needles, completely surrounding Sasuke. They all simultaneously slammed into Sasuke, proving to be too many for the young genin to dodge. As Naruto went through the mirror to the other side of the dome he turned around to see blood fly out of Sasuke's mouth and watched him fall to the ground landing so that Naruto couldn't see his face.

"No NO SASU **KE NO!"** Naruto yelled.

"He was a powerful opponent but Zabuza-sama gave me an order that I needed to fulfil, I am sorry."

Naruto felt a burning around him and a deep rage, more so than he had ever felt before and everything seemed to be tinged red. He looked at the mirrors and could see which one his opponent was in. Before Haku could jump to another mirror his tail slammed into it shattering the mirror and wrapping around her. The tail burned her. It lifted her up then slammed her down into the bridge creating cracks where she hit.

" **I'll kill you"** and before Haku could even get up she felt conact on her stomach then she was up in the air, Naruto's leg outstretched. Before she could even reach the peak of her ascent his tail shot forth and grabbed her ankle pulling her down and slamming her into the bridge yet again.

 _Naruto I'm so sorry. Zabuza I've failed you I can't defeat this boy, he's something else completely. Naruto I'm sorry for falling in love with you then taking on of your most precious people._

" **DIE!"** Naruto shouted as he ran forward and picked Haku up with one hand before launching her again with a punch to the stomach. She landed with her face to the ground and stayed there.

" **GET UP I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!"** With the last of her strength she stood up and watched as Naruto's tail came towards her pointed right at her heart. Before it could make contact her cracked mask finally fell revealing her face. His tail stopped inches before it punctured the kunoichi. **"Haku, why?"** He said his voice still deeper than usual, sounding more feral.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun everything between us was never supposed to happen." She looked into his eyes again and through the anger she saw something even worse. The sadness in his eyes. A deep and crushing sadness that she shared with him. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, our fight is over now Zabuza-sama still needs me." She then ran forward and threw senbon at him to distract him, if only for a second. He felt the chakra though and dashed forward seeing Kakashi's jutsu go forward and Haku appear in front of Zabuza.

" **NO!"** He yelled as he jumped in between them grabbing Kakashi's arm diverting him to the left and pushing Haku to the right. Kakashi felt the burning in his arm and looked with shock at Naruto's cloak. Naruto's tail acted at the same time, wrapping around Zabuza's neck and lifting him slightly off the ground. His tail began to restrict around the demon's neck but before he could finish him a clapping echoed out as the mist cleared revealing a very short man wearing a black suit and sunglasses despite the mist.

"Good kill him it will save us the trouble of doing so." The man said as the mist cleared more and more showing a small army of men behind him.

Naruto dropped Zabuza who fell to his knees while massaging his burning throat.

"Well Kakashi it looks like we're on the same side now." He then looked to Naruto and pointed at Gato. "Hey kid, that's Gato, sick him." Zabuza said a smile underneath the wrappings covering his mouth. At this Naruto, who was being corrupted more by the Kyuubi every second that passed, dashed forward faster than anyone other than the ninja could follow. Before his army could process what happened Naruto had Gato by the throat at the end of the bridge, the smell of burning flesh already seeping through the air. "Kid don't do this I could make you rich, I could give you everything you want. Anything you could ever want just let me live!" Gato pleaded as his throat burned. Naruto dropped him down. "Hehe smart kid now once you kill those guys over there I'll give you anything."

" **You know what I want?"**

"What kid? Anything and it's yours."

" **Your death!"** Naruto then created a rasengan and connected it with Gato's stomach and extended his cloak stretching the arm out well over the sea as the ball tore away at Gato's stomach ripping apart his innards and grinding his bones to dust. Once Gato's screams stopped Naruto ended the jutsu letting the destroyed body fall into the ocean. He then turned around and looked at the army then dashed forward two new rasengan already formed. He slammed the rasengan into multiple people and used his tail to impale others going through several people at a time. Even if the initial stab didn't kill them the burning did. He used his claws to slash the men down hearing nothing but screams and flesh being torn from bone. Soon no one was left. Only Naruto stood among the destroyed remains of the men, gore covering the entire area and the stench of burned flesh in the air. He looked around and saw Sakura holding Sasuke who was awake now, then his eyes moved to Haku who looked at him with fear. The cloak faded and he dropped to his hands and knees and threw up, the impact of his actions hitting him.

He stayed on his hands and knees until he heard footsteps walking towards him. He looked up at Kakashi who had his arm outreached. Naruto grabbed his hand and Kakashi pulled him up. As he stood up he began to hear the sound of cheering and looked to the beginning of the bridge where he saw the whole village gathered cheering at the defeat of Gato and his army.

"You're a hero Naruto." Kakashi said

"I'm a monster."

"No you're not, killing is part of our job Naruto these men were evil there was no redemption for them and you were under the influence of the Kyuubi, feeding and increasing your hate. I'm sorry you had to use the cloak for the first time in an environment like this, you can't blame yourself you've never used it before and couldn't have known how much influence it would put on you."

"Thank you sensei, what happens to them?" He asked pointing towards Haku and Zabuza.

"Well that's up to them, they are no longer our enemies and your opponent didn't kill Sasuke, she put him in a death-like state."

Naruto walked over to them and looked at Zabuza then briefly at Haku before he stuck his hand out to Zabuza who looked at him curiously before shaking his hand. "Haku deserves better than you I hope you know that she loves you as a father and you treat her as a weapon and nothing more she could've died while fighting me, I almost killed her but I refrained and after everything that happened to her she still ran to save you." Naruto said looking at the man. They heard a thud and Zabuza turned around seeing Haku on the floor her eyes closed and her breathing shallow. Zabuza bent down quickly to feel her pulse to make sure it was steady. His muscles tensed before he picked her up. "Damn you boy you don't know what you're talking about, help me find someone who can treat her and fast NOW!" They ran into the crowd, many people regarding Zabuza with fear. Soon they found a doctor and Haku was rushed into the small hospital where they went about setting her broken bones while Zabuza ran in search of the herbs she had used to help with his chakra poisoning. Once he found them he gave them to the doctors who administered them. Once they said her vitals were stable they all left the hospital as Haku would have to remain there for at the very least a week until she could move again and even at that she won't be able to move for that long.

"Well Kakashi we are no longer enemies, I have a debt to pay to your damn brat so we will stay and help with the construction of the bridge." Zabuza said for once with no hint of malice in his voice.

"Start treating her like a daughter." Naruto told him as he walked away.

"That kid has a unique ability Kakashi."

"Yes I know, everyone who is around him can't help but inevitably liking him."

Naruto walked over to Sasuke and Sakura. "You ok teme?" He asked the Raven haired teen who was walking with a slight limp and had a certain pinkete next to him with her arms wrapped around him despite his rather loud protests.

"Yeah I'm fine dobe, SAKURA GET OFF."

Sakura just smiled and wrapped her other arm around Naruto and pulled him in close as well as Sasuke. "We did it we won." She said with a smile getting the same reaction out of her two teammates who allowed the pinket to hug them longer for once.

After the battle had taken place it only took a few more days for Tazuna to finally complete the bridge, the process being accelerated by Naruto's hundreds of clones helping where they could. Once Haku was let out of the hospital she stayed at Tsunami's house along with Zabuza as well. Naruto had refused to talk to her and he did all he could to avoid coming into contact with her. He was hurt deeply, someone he trusted had turned against him and almost killed his best friend.

Inari was finally happy again and thanked Naruto for saving his village. In return Naruto who took a liking to the young boy, gave him a kunai and began teaching him how to fight with it.

The day came that the bridge was finally completed and open for use. Everyone was celebrating again, almost everyone that is except for Naruto and Haku who were still hurting. They all said their goodbyes to Tsunami, Tazuna, and Inari, who had tears in his eyes as he said goodbye to the heroes. The team from Konoha and the Mercenary and his apprentice all walked down the bridge. They reached the edge of the bridge which connected to the land of fire's border.

"Do you two know where you will go from here?" Kakashi asked the two

"He for once we don't, I suppose to another village in search of mercenary work." Zabuza replied.

Naruto looked at them and made a decision he had been thinking on for awhile. "My last name is Namikaze I'm fairly sure I can convince Tousan of this too, you both are invited to come with us and become Shinobi for Konoha. Zabuza you're only a missing-nin because you staged a coup on Yagura and in Konoha's eyes will not be seen as a dangerous crime."

Zabuza looked at the boy, he was suspicious of his parentage before he told him his last name, after all the boy was almost a spitting image of the yellow flash. He looked down to Haku "Well what do you say Haku?"

"It would be nice to not be on the run for once Zabuza-sama"

"Haku, sensei is fine. Well boy it looks like we're taking you up on your offer."

Naruto looked at Haku who offered him a smile, he turned away and began walking. The rest followed after him on their way back home after a long trip they were all different and had all changed for better or worse they were no longer the same people that left.

 **Wow that one took awhile. So after thinking about it I'm going to take a poll I want Fū to be with Naruto I already decided on that pairing but I want to know if you guys think I should have it just Naruto and her or Naruto Fū and Haku let me know in the comments and I'll be back soon with another chapter until then thank you guys again.**


	5. Chapter 5: Training for the Exams

**Alright I'm pretty sure on the pairing now but I'll still give it a bit more let more of you voice your opinions.**

 **Disclaimer I don't own Naruto never have never will**

 **Chapter 5: Training for the Exams**

"Only you Naruto." Minato then let out a sigh that turned into a small chuckle towards the end. Currently he had Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and to his immense shock and surprise Zabuza Momochi and his partner Haku. The team had just given their mission briefing ended it with Zabuza himself asking to become a ninja of Konoha. In return he had promised to give all information he had on Yagura and his plans.

 _It's days like these where I want to pick a successor and retire._ "Alright I want some clarifications, Zabuza and Haku may you please step outside briefly and Sasuke and Sakura you two are dismissed." The two genin gave a bow then gave their thanks.

"Sasuke-kun how about we go somewhere to eat?"

"No I need to train."

"Well how about we train together? Please" she asked with a smile getting uncomfortably close to the Uchiha.

"Hn." Was all he offered as a response to which she took as a yes and followed after the poor boy.

Zabuza and Haku stepped outside and the doors closed the second they were completely out of the room.

"Alright Naruto what happened on the bridge?"

"I thought Haku had killed Sasuke, I saw him hit the ground and I became angry, far angrier than I had ever been. I felt a slight burning on my stomach coming from the seal and then everything was tinged red. By the time Gato came along I could faintly hear the Kyuubi talking to me telling me to kill Gato then the rest of his men. Once I saw Sasuke getting up I calmed down and the cloak faded away."

Minato sighed and looked at his son. He was different and he knew something besides the killing had taken place. The way he talked about Haku was different than how he talked about anyone else. "Well I was hoping to begin training you with the cloak after the exams but Jiraiya-sensei will be back soon so once he comes back we will begin at the very least teaching you how to control it should it come out again, if you pass the exams we will teach you how to draw on it."

Naruto gave a nod, then remembered his father's promise before he left on his mission. "Don't forget your promise tousan, you said you'd teach me a new training method." He said with a small grin.

"Yes I know Naruto I plan on teaching you the method tonight." Minato said with a smile. His face then shifted and his manner became serious again. "Kakashi can he be trusted, and would you vouch for him to become a Shinobi of this village?"

"After viewing his behavior I'd honestly say yes on both accounts. He has changed, he's most likely tired of constantly being on the run and he was exiled for a rather noble cause. He will make a nice addition to our forces as would his apprentice. I would say she's high chunin in rank."

"Hmm alright you two are dismissed, tell them to come in when you leave."

The two left and Zabuza and Haku walked back into the Hokage's office.

"Alright after hearing what everyone has said about you two I have decided to allow you both to stay in the village. You both will be on a probation period where you will not be allowed to take on any missions. Once the probation period is over, and that will be once the chunin exams finish, I will have you two fight two opponents, defeating your opponents will determine your rank. Zabuza you will fight one of our jounin and Haku your fight will be against a chunin. You both can train and will be recognized as Shinobi of this village from here on out. We do have a few compounds available so I will have an Anbu show you two your new living areas and after that I will send Naruto over to give you both a tour." During this time Minato had been filling out some paperwork. He wrote out a last few sentences then looked up and gave the papers to Zabuza. "Does everything look right?"

"Yes it is fine, thank you uh Hokage-sama"

"Alright well I hereby register." He looked over to Zabuza.

"Oh, Zabuza Momochi."

"And." He then looked over to Haku.

"Haku." Was all she said.

Zabuza looked at her and gave a slight smile "Haku Momochi."

"As Shinobi of konohagakure. Alright Zabuza Haku will be registered as your?"

"As my daughter."

At this Haku looked up at him with shock at first that morphed into a smile.

Minato looked at them with a smile "well that changes things, Haku you have the Hyoton and as such you qualify for becoming a clan. As there is no Momochi clan on records you two will be able to create your clan crest which will then be placed on each building of your compound. And Zabuza you will be clan head and as such are given a seat on the council. On behalf of Konoha I welcome the Momochi clan."

Haku looked at Minato with a large smile and was tempted to run and give him a _hug. A home, finally we have a place to call home._

Zabuza looked at Minato and gave a small nod and a rare non-bloodthirsty smile graced his face. But of course no one could see this as, just like Kakashi, he kept the lower part of his face covered almost always.

"You will find on of my Anbu waiting for you two outside of the tower where they will then lead you to your new compound."

They both gave a bow and a thank you then they walked out, beginning their new lives.

Minato sat back down in his chair and looked to a nearby window that was wide open. He just sighed slightly and looked back at the window with a smile. "Do you agree with my decision sensei?"

Jiraiya dropped his chameleon jutsu and looked at Minato with a smile. "They'll be a good addition to the village, you've been a great Hokage Minato."

"Thank you Jiraiya sensei, but you know you'd make a good Hokage as well."

Jiraiya gave a boisterous laugh as the image of him in his robes while peeping on women came to mind. "You know it's not the job for me Minato, however Tsunade-hime will be back for the exams and she has been coming around more often perhaps this place is starting to grow on her again, you would be the one to convince her to take the job."

"Perhaps, I've been at this job for fifteen years now I'm getting ready to retire soon. I need to start focusing more time on Naruto and training him more."

"Yeah a C-rank to an A rank, it's unheard of. He's strong though, very few genin could have survived that. You've done well training him you and Itachi."

"His seal is loosening, he needs to get stronger though it's too early to train him for nine-tails chakra mode."

"Well he'll only get stronger from here on out and at the rate he's advancing it won't be long before he is ready. Anyways the whole reason I'm here was to see how the chunin exams are coming along."

At this Minato gained a wide smile as he pulled letters from ontop of his desk and displayed them out for Jiraiya. "I sent an open invitation to everyone and surprisingly many responded back this is going to be the biggest in awhile. It'll be us, Suna, Kumo, Taki, Kusa, Ame, a new village called Oto, and Surprisingly Kiri."

"Watch out for the leader of Oto, Orochimaru conducts a lot of business in the land of rice fields so a hidden village that pops up there is rather suspicious."

"Thank you I will make sure to keep an eye out, I'm going to need your help with something though, with so many villages coming in we couldn't decide on one location so the first part will be in Suna and handled by their proctor, the second stage takes place immediately afterwards as you know but it takes place along ours and Taki's border so there will be sending seals in Suna and summoning at the border so I will need your help in creating them as they will be on such a large scale."

"A rather ambitious project Minato I look forward to seeing it, what's the second round?"

"That's a secret you'll have to wait and see, it's classified only a few people know about it."

Jiraiya looked at him with a frown "My own student keeping secrets from me after everything I've done for him." He said in mock sadness complete with tears falling down his face.

Minato just face palmed at his Sensei and father figure's antics. "So you will help me?"

"Yes of course I will, the exams are in a month have you started working on the seals?"

"Yes I've been teleporting between here, Suna, and Taki."

"So I'll be splitting my time between trading the Gaki and helping with the seals and research alright sounds good."

"Well I'll just leave a shadow clone here, I'm going to show Naruto how to use the full potential of his shadow clones, do you want to come it's been awhile since you've seen your Godson."

"Yeah hehe the Gaki's an adult now perfect I can start taking him with me to do research." Jiraiya said with a grin

"Oh please don't do that to my son."

The two went back to the Namikaze estate where they found Naruto in the training room working on his kenjutsu with a clone.

"Ero-sennin when'd you get back." Naruto said with a smile as he went and hugged his godfather.

"Damn it Gaki didn't your father teach you any respect!?"

"Yeah of course he did, but you're a pervert and therefore don't exactly get the same amount of respect despite your status as one of the most powerful ninja." Naruto said with a smile and a laugh as his godfather face faulted then came back up with tears streaming down his face.

"You and Minato treat me with so little respect oh where did I go wrong!" He said in a largely exaggerated dramatic voice.

"Alright Naruto now time for your new training technique."

"Yes finally!" Naruto said with a wide smile.

Minato gained a devious grin and looked at his son "shadow clones transfer all the experiences they learn while training with the exception of muscle memory. Your welcome."

Naruto sweat dropped at this and looked at his father "really did you have to build it up so much, yeah that's cool I can get months of training in hours but still you built it up so much that was rather anticlimactic."

"I know." Minato said on the verge of laughing at his son's expression "Jiraiya sensei has the perfect technique for you though." He grabbed hold of both of them and they all teleported to a training field.

"Alright Naruto me and your dad have done this it's now time for you to sign the toad summoning contract." Jiraiya said while he removed the large scroll from his back and laid it out in front of Naruto.

"Seriously?! That's awesome I'll be able to summon huge toads like Bunta?!"

"Well that's why you're using the shadow clone technique, it takes a while finding the right balance of chakra to put into the jutsu but using enough clones you should be able to get it down today actually, it's still rather early. Now bite your thumb and leave your fingerprints of the same hand in blood, after that sign your full name.

Naruto did all that he was told and Minato then showed him the seals for the jutsu. "Alright create 30 clones" Naruto did as he was told "good now each clone use a different amount of chakra when doing the jutsu after the jutsu is complete dispel them all.

"Summoning Jutsu!" The entire area was covered in smoke and much to Naruto's shock, only five of the clones were able to summon anything, tadpoles. Naruto gave a deadpan expression and dispelled the clones getting light headed as all the information hit him and getting slightly fatigued.

Jiraiya laughed out loud while Minato had to suppress a chuckle. "Alright keep it up create 30 more have them all use different amounts of chakra" Minato said.

"Shadow clone jutsu! Alright guys we have this now and Summoning jutsu!" Once again the area was covered in smoke and this time Jiraiya fell on the floor laughing as they were all tadpoles with the exception of the last 10 that had small legs but still had tails. "Argh how much chakra are you supposed to use for this jutsu."

"That's for you to figure out, maybe you'll have it by your hundredth try." Minato said a smile adorning his face.

Naruto dispelled the clones again and broke out in a light sweat this time. The jutsu was rather taxing on his reserves. "Alright let's try this again shadow clone jutsu!" This time he created 39 clones he was not going to take over a hundred times to perfect this jutsu so he pumped the most amount of chakra into the jutsu and once again shouted "summoning jutsu!" And again the area was covered but to Naruto's delight he summoned a small toad that looked up at him and waved "Yo I'm Gamakichi you must be the new summoner, thanks for taking all our tadpoles, much good those will do you."

"Awesome I did it! I'm Naruto Namikaze nice to meet you Kichi." He said a smile on his face as he picked Gamakichi up in one hand and shook his hand with the other.

"A Namikaze eh alright well you're going to needa summon my dad, he'll want to talk to you before you're really able to summon us." The toad gave a wave and dispersed and along went clones Naruto had made. He fell backwards and landed in a sitting position as his large reserves of chakra had a major strain on them and the mental backlash was straining on him.

"Alright you're almost done now you have some demon chakra in the ring pull on that a little and perform the jutsu." Minato said

"You're really going to have the kid summon him? Now?"

"What'd you do this time to make him angry sensei?"

"I may have quite the debt of Sake to repay him"

Minato rolled his eyes and looked back at Naruto who was slowly taking some chakra he had stored into the ring.

"Oh tousan I need you to add a filter seal on the ring, it burns my skin when I pull on the chakra as it isn't filtered demonic chakra and is toxic still."

"Well i wasn't expecting you to use the ring in such a manner so the thought to add that never occurred to me but afterwards I'll add them it should only take an hour or two." Minato and Jiraiya stood by Naruto as he performed the jutsu again and this time when the smoke cleared he was standing high above the trees.

"So you're the new summoner huh that's a bold claim saying your a Namikaze." A deep voice boomed out

"Bunta-Dono it's good to see you it has been awhile and yes he is my son."

"Minato you're up there too hmm well let me see him then jump down in front of me boy"

Naruto did as he was told and landed in front of the giant rust colored toad. "Hello I'm Naruto Namikaze." He said giving a bow to the giant toad.

"Heh he's the spitting image of you Minato, alright you little squirt I respect your father and you have to be quite powerful to summon me, the great Boss toad Gamabunta, so I will allow you to summon me when you need help, hey Minato who's up there with you, Jiraiya you pervert are you up there?!"

"Ahaha as wise as you are powerful Gamabunta to be able to know it was me I am truly honored-"

"Jiraiya I outta squash you the next time you summon me you perverted fool you're lucky Minato is up there with you. Alright Gaki we will share a drink next time I'm around, they'll be on that idiot I'm assuming you call a sensei. Minato if you'd please jump down."

Minato did as the toad asked looking confused. Jiraiya was about to do the same "Not you Jiraiya I need to talk to you." Gamabunta then launched himself into the air "you still will be paying for drinks next time" he said and then left at the peak of his height leaving Jiraiya stories in the air, yelling as he fell towards the earth. Thankfully Bunta at least jumped over trees letting those brake the perverted sage's fall.

"Common Naruto let's go make sure he didn't break anything during his fall." Minato said with a sigh as he and his son began jogging to the area where Jiraiya had fallen. They found him sprawled out on his back swirls in his eyes mumbling something about disrespectful toads.

They gathered Jiraiya and went back home where Minato fixed Naruto's ring to allow him to now safely draw on the Kyuubi's chakra.

The next day Kakashi called the team together to give them their forms for the chunin exams. They filled them out and upon turning them in were told by Minato that they are to spend the remainder of the time training and that everyone will be leaving in 20 days.

The team spend the remainder of the day's training with Kakashi in the mornings then Sakura continues to train with him as the boys convinced Zabuza to help them with their kenjutsu, a task not easily accomplished as to prove themselves worthy to be trained by him they had to last a minute in a match only using swords. After both being defeated in half that time he agreed to training them. At night they'd go and train with their families.

Since Zabuza had a clan compound they trained there meaning Naruto ran into Haku quite often. At first they barely communicated with Naruto giving just a hello and goodbye. After a few days though, she made the effort to talk to him more and soon they did but he still remained different, more closed off than before. It hurt her but she was just happy that he was talking to her again.

It was the last day that he was training that they were training before he left to Suna that she worked up the courage to talk about their feelings.

"Naruto may I ask you something?"

"Huh? Oh uh yeah go ahead."

"Did you, she sighed before looking up right into his eyes, did you love me?"

"...yes I did love you Haku"

"I'm sorry Naruto, I'm so sorry for everything." She said looking away from him. He could see tears brimming at her eyes.

"Don't be, you were following orders and none of that was supposed to happen we couldn't have predicted it and, I'd like us to be friends again."

"Friends, yes I'd like that thank you Naruto."

The two gave a quick hug and Naruto looked at her and waved as he shunshined away back to his house.

Soon it was the morning of when all the genin teams were taking off to Suna. Minato had ordered that all teams would leave at the same time. He also left Naruto with some rather advantageous information, who the ichibi Jinchuriki was, what he looked like, and a description of his sand controlling abilities. He also told him that Taki was sending their Jinchuriki as well, unfortunately not much information was available other than the fact that they had a degree of control over their bijuu. He told him this because they never kept Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki a secret, others were bound to know some of his skills as well so he wanted to even the playing field for his son and his team. Who could help it he was somewhat biased when it came to his son.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were the first to arrive.

"Ready for this teme?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing dobe"

"Hey you two, I've changed a lot since we became a team I won't be useless anymore, we're all making it to chunin." Sakura said with a smile, it was true after the mission to the waves she had spent all her time training and becoming stronger. Her taijutsu style was well off and Kakashi had given her chakra paper finding out her affinity was for earth. He taught her a few simple jutsu but had her focus on one that would compliment her taijutsu nicely although she kept it a secret from the two she wanted it to be a surprise when she showed her actual power. She had also noticed the way Naruto was when Haku was around and as such figured she'd have a better chance going after Sasuke, who needed two boys anyways. She had also toned back her advances somewhat as they hadn't been getting her anywhere in her quest for love.

"Good I was just about to say you better make it to chunin Sakura, we can't break up the team just like that if me and Sasuke get promoted" Naruto said with a grin as he saw his teammate set her eyes in determination.

A few minutes later a genin team arrived consisting of people they'd never seen before, they all sported similar attire a white undershirt with a purple sleeveless top that covered their neck, a khaki belt and purple pants. One of them walked forward towards Naruto and stuck his hand out. "Kabuto, you must be Naruto Namikaze right?"

"Yeah nice to meet you Kabuto." Naruto said with a smile.

"You guys are rookies, you guys must be worried it's been some time since rookies were in the exams."

Naruto gained a smirk "Nope not worried at all I'm pumped for the exams."

"Careful they're quite hard I should know." He gave a half hearted chuckle at this

"This is your second time taking them?"

He gave another chuckle at this "no closer to my seventh."

Sakura looked over at him with wide eyes "you've taken them that many times? How hard are they?"

"Oh they're quite hard and dangerous but then again it may just be me I don't have the best of luck when it comes to things like this I've never been much for fighting. You guys should be fine though I mean you all have to be strong."

"Thank you Kabuto it was nice meeting you and hopefully you pass this time."

"Thank you and good luck to you guys."

After a few minutes they heard Kiba well before they saw him gloating about how he'd destroy the exams and breeze right through them. Naruto walked over to him "Good to see you haven't changed Kiba, I look forward to seeing just how strong you've become."

"You too Naruto" he said with a feral grin. Akamaru popped out of his hood and offered a small "yip" "Heh hopefully we get to fight each other I'd like to see just how well I stack up against the Hokage's son, it'll definitely get me a promotion when I wipe the floor with you."

"Hah in your dreams dog breath you're more likely to get Shino to laugh than beat me." While Naruto wasn't arrogant in any way, it was rather funny for everyone to see their hot headed friend blow up over the smallest things.

"Argh just you wait Naruto I've gotten way stronger than I was in the academy and you have no idea what my skills are."

"Kiba the same goes for him as well, why? Well he's had the same amount of time to train and it's very likely he has been training quite hard to get stronger as well."

"Yeah thanks Shino." Naruto said but the bug user no longer seemed to be paying attention as he was looking off in the distance.

"H-h-hi N-Naruto."

"Oh hey Hinata, how've you been? Must be fun dealing with dog boy over here huh?"

Hinata looked over at Kiba then back to Naruto who was giving her a curious look. _Oh I haven't responded yet he's acting so calm why can't I just talk to him._ The more she pondered on her thoughts the redder she became until Naruto grew visibly worried over her.

"Hey Hinata are you alright? You're really red are you coming down with something?" He then walked over to her and placed his hand on her forehead at which point she fainted. Fortunately Kiba was there to catch her and he just shrugged at Naruto then went to put set her down in admitting position over by a tree. _Uhh did I do something to her? That was weird, eh Hinata has always been kinda weird like that wonder why that is._ Naruto was brought out of his musings by the arrival of team 10 which was signified by Ino dashing towards him and hanging around his neck like her life depended on it.

"Hi Ino." Naruto said in a strained voice as she was just about choking him. "Ino you're kinda choking me would you mind easing up or letting go?"

"Huh oh sorry Naruto-kun I've just missed you so much so how's my favorite blond been hmm cutie?"

"Ino. get. Away. From. Him." Sakura said with a menacing voice which was made even more threatening by the fact that the way she was standing covered just her eyes in shadows and she had a thin smile that looked like it belonged to Zabuza rather than the pinkete.

"Why forehead? Afraid he'll finally realize I'm the girl meant for him and he'll ditch you in an instant?" At this point Ino and let go of Naruto who inches towards Shikamaru and Choji. By the time he got to them the girls were once again back at screaming and shouting at each other over who would finally get the two boys.

"How do you take being on a team with her?" Naruto asked Shikamaru who couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the question.

"It's troublesome alright, but all women are."

"It's kinda scary too, Ino gets mad a lot at us." Choji said in between bites of the chips he was currently snacking on.

"I'm surprised you're coming Shika, this doesn't seem like your style, lemme guess your mom or Ino got to you?" Naruto asked with a grin

"Worse, they both did and Asuma-sensei said he'd train us twice as hard if we didn't participate so figured I have to, man this whole thing is so troublesome."

Their conversation was interrupted by loud shouts about the "flames of youth" and then in the distance two people who looked like exact clones of each other could be seen running at full speed towards the group. Once they stopped everyone gave an audible gasp at the two ninja in front of them. They both sported shinin bowl cuts, huge eyebrows and wore skintight green suits. The only difference being one had a flak-jacket on while the other didn't.

"Lee I'm so proud of you my boy, you're off to take the chunin exams to fan your flames make sure they burn brighter than everyone else's!" The taller of the two said.

"Hai I will guy-sensei I will not disappoint you!"

"Atta boy Lee!" At this point both men started to tear up and looked into each other's eyes

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei"

They both embraced and an image of the sun setting on the beach, complete with waves crashing came up behind them.

"Oh god Sasuke why can't I dispel it?!"

"I don't know maybe I can look through it!" Sasuke then activated his sharingan hoping to be able to see through the genjutsu thus dispelling it for him. "Agh my eyes!" Instead not only could he not see through it, the sharingan permanently burned the image into his mind.

"What the hell kind of genjutsu is this?! Shikamaru you're smart how do you get rid of this thing?" Naruto shouted

"Gaaah I really don't know this thing burns!"

Finally the genjutsu was ended when a shuriken landed in between the two men forcing them to jump apart.

"Why do you two always do this, great first impression on all our fellow ninja I swear you two." A kunoichi said who looked to be about a year older than them. She had a pink sleeveless blouse on with blue Shinobi pants and had her hair in two buns on either side of her head.

"Thank you for ending that idiocracy Tenten." Said a boy with her, he had his hair in a long ponytail and wore a khaki shirt that covered his neck and brown shorts. The most outstanding feature on the boy were his pale eyes, the byakugan.

He heard a small noise behind him and turned around to see Hinata, seemingly fully recovered from her incident earlier, staring at the white eyed boy. "Hinata who is that?"

"That's my cousin N-Neji."

"Namikaze you shouldn't spend your time with weaker ninja, it gives them false hope that they can change their fate and actually become anything other than a failure or a weakling, you as well Uchiha." Neji said with an arrogant smirk as he saw the other genin look at him with anger.

"Fate determines strength huh is that what you think?" Naruto asked his voice set in ice.

"Yes it is if you are a failure then fate deemed you to be nothing but a failure." While he was saying this he focused his attention on Hinata.

"You know I've spent everyday training to get where I'm at, nothing ever came natural to me like it was for my father I trained hard to reach my levels. Anyone can become great." Naruto said letting some anger seep into his voice

"If you truly believe that then I was wrong you do belong with the rest of these failures. And what of you Uchiha? Do you carry the same beliefs as him?"

Sasuke looked at him and activated his Sharingan. Every sentence that came out of this guys mouth annoyed him to no end "who the hell are you to talk about fate? What happened someone you loved died? We're Shinobi majority of us have lost people we love and we will lose people we love it's our line of work it doesn't give you the excuse to go talking about fate to everyone you meet."

Neji's byakugan flared to life and immediately Naruto and Sasuke went into a ready stance. Before the teens could charge at each other Guy jumped in between them.

"Neji that's enough!" He then looked over to Naruto and Sasuke, "I apologize for Neji's most unyouthful actions you all have a long trip together so I hope another incident does not occur, all of you are comrades and as such should not start unnecessary conflicts amongst yourself."

Guy took one more glance at Neji and then addressed the group as a whole "well you all are wasting daylight get going and all of you do well burn your flames of youth bright!"

Everyone with the exception of Guy's team questioned amongst themselves to what the hell the "flames of youth" are.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sakura and gave a smile. "Let's go!" And with that everyone headed off towards the village hidden in the sand.

 **Well I'm going out of town this weekend so I should get the new chapter out by Monday or Tuesday, after all not much to do for in the car besides type this up. Keep leaving comments and feel free to leave advice or just if you like the story. Thank you guys and keep being great keep reading and keep getting the story seen by more people.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and most likely won't ever.**

 **Chapter 6: The First Trial**

After three days of travel the group of Konoha Genin arrived in Suna. They arrived at the gates where a group of Anbu was awaiting them.

"All of you follow us to the hotel where you will be at for the duration of your stay." An Anbu wearing a white demon mask with red horns flaring out on the sides said in an emotionless voice that came across somewhat rude to the genin.

"Sheesh could've said please." Kiba whispered over to Naruto. The second the sentence left his mouth the Anbu glanced back and made eye contact with the Inuzuka heir for a brief instant before looking forward again. His eyes widen slightly and he found he had some difficulty swallowing.

 _These guys don't mess around at all, you would think we're enemies. It would do us good to remain under the radar while we're all here._ Naruto thought to himself as he continued walking right behind their escort. He looked around as he walked, all the buildings seemed to be made of a clay and were all rounded. _Well at least I know it will be nice and cool in rooms not this blistering heat_. He took notice to restaurants as his stomach gave off a rather loud sound signifying his hunger.

"Looks like someone's hungry, how about the three of us go get something to eat." Sakura said with a warm smile looking at her comrades.

"You guys aren't the only ones who are hungry! I ran out of chips halfway here and I'm starving." Choji wined

"All you're ever worried about is eating Choji!" Ino yelled at the poor boy.

"Sure you're not hungry Ino? How about me and you go grab a bite eh?" Kiba said with a smile.

"In your dreams dog breath the only one who gets to take me out is Naruto-kun!"

"I'm not taking you out Ino." Naruto replied in a deadpan voice and then sweat dropped as fire seemed to appear in her eyes as she became even more determined to get the young blond to date her. "Anyways we're all hungry so we will all go and grab a bite to eat AFTER we get settled in the hotel." Naruto said with a finality.

"Hn who made you team leader, dobe?"

"The fact that I'm the strongest one here,teme." Naruto said with a smirk as Sasuke glared at him.

Sakura looked at the two hoping she'd get to play peacemaker again, it always gave her a reason to hold onto one of the boys as her idea of peacemaking was hanging onto on of their necks to keep them from moving forward. Unfortunately for her the large group had arrived at the hotel. The hotel was a huge 10 story rounded building that had a banner wrapped around that said "Welcome Konoha Genin." Next to the building were several others that all had welcome banners for the different villages that were participating.

The masked Anbu then turned around and addressed the group as a whole "Your rooms will all be on the top level, enjoy your stay, the exams will begin in seven days time. Tomorrow night there will be a dinner, you all will receive invitations that contain more information sometime before tomorrow. Until the exams begin enjoy your stay here and be careful of your actions." And with that the Anbu was gone in a swirl of sand. Although his head was facing forward, Kiba got the impression that the Anbu had looked at him during that last sentence.

"Alright everyone we will meet back here in 10 minutes I saw a barbecue place on the way here, that's fine for everyone right?" Everyone mumbled yes and with that they headed towards their rooms. _Hm this isn't so hard, being a leader, ah man I was made to be a hokage._ Naruto thought, with a grin seeping onto his face as the image of him as an adult wearing his Hokage robes.

"You know you look like an idiot smiling like that" Sasuke said with a smirk as Naruto's face did an immediate 180 and he looked at Sasuke with anger

"That right teme!? How about I make you look like an idiot and mop the floor with you?!"

"Uhm N-N-Naruto-k-k-un, people are ah are staring." Hinata said, her face the color of a ripe tomato by the time the sentence was fully out of her mouth.

"Huh?" He then looked around and saw that everyone in the hotel lobby was staring as the young blond who had caused a scene. He set his mouth in a thin line and flared his nostrils slightly then looked at Sasuke, whose smirk had gotten considerably larger than it was before. "You know I really hate you teme." Naruto said although there was no malicious in his voice to indicate he meant what he said.

 **You humans are quite the idiotic species** a deep, evil voice said.

 _Great of all times you chose to wake up, what do you want you oh so scary and mighty fur ball_

 **I'm going to enjoy the day when I finally eat you and your damned father. Your screams will be music to my-**

 _Yeah yeah yeah you've said this all before nothing new now what do you want_

 **YOU WILL RESPECT ME YOU DAMNED MORTAL I AM THE ALMIGHTY DEMON FOX and as for why I contacted you, I sense the other Jinchuriki, strongly. They either have better control or their seals are weakened. You had better be careful Naruto I do not wish to wait years before I can reform if your idiocracy gets us killed**

And with that the Kyuubi ended their connection and Naruto could no longer feel its presence or influence on him. He hadn't been paying attention while talking and realized that he was already inside his room. _Huh time flies when you're having fun_. He smiled as he pulled a scroll from his pocket. _Ah perks of having a seal master for a father, no huge bags to carry like the other guys_. He laid the scroll out and with a poof of smoke his bag appeared filled with various ninja tools and clothing. _Huh there's dress clothes in here too, why wouldn't tousan tell us about the dinner then and how would the others have known to bring dress clothes._ He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a loud "Move demon!" He looked outside the window and saw a tan girl with mint green hair wearing a short sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armour underneath, long white armlets, and fishnet shorts with a short white apron skirt over it. On her arm he saw a Taki headband and he could see a large red cylindrical container on her back. _Hm must be the Jinchuriki, I always heard they were treated bad but I didn't think it was that bad. Heh good thing I haven't taken my sword off yet._ He created a shadow clone then jumped out of the window landing right in front of the Taki team, startling all of them.

"Given I'm not from your village so I don't know how things are there, but that's usually not the way you treat a girl." He said with a small smile.

"This is none of your concern kid so why don't you get out of here before you piss me and my partner off." As he said this last part the Taki genin drew a kunai. The two genin wore teal shirts that had various pouches on it to hold their tools. They wore dark blue shorts and dark blue Shinobi sandals. The one talking to Naruto had light skin and brown spiky hair. His most noticeable features, however was a large scar going down the middle of his face and one of his eyes was white with a blue iris and the other one was green with a red sclera and no pupil. The other one, who had moved next to his fellow Taki-nin was slightly darker than the girl with dark spiky blue hair and blue eyes. Attached to his sides were kunai that had extended length blades that his hands were currently resting on.

Naruto's smile fell and was replaced by a slight glare. He let some of his anger seep into his features giving him an intimidating look and he reached back and grabbed the hilt of his katana

"If that's how you two want to play this so be it ."

"Hey Ahiko, the kid looks like the hokage, you don't think that." The Taki-nin with blue hair said

"You're right Gantetsu, you're the Hokage's brat aren't you?"

"Not that it matters but yeah I'm Naruto Namikaze."

Ahiko gained a smile and put his kunai away "Fine you want to be around the demon go ahead, I can wait till the exams start to deal with you. Gantetsu let's go." The two ninja then took off back to their hotel rooms.

"That could've ended worse hehe, I'm Naruto, just in case you didn't hear." He said with a smile. He noticed that she ever so slightly flinched when he stuck his hand out.

 _Who the hell is this guy_ "You shouldn't have done that, you're better off not knowing me so please just leave me alone."

"Huh why would you want me to do that?"

"Just leave me alone." She said before turning around and walking away.

Naruto smirked and ran after her. "Hey wait up it's rude to not introduce yourself after the other person already has." He said with a chuckle.

"Fuu, now leave." _If he knew what I was he'd stay away from me, I just really don't feel like being called a monster right now, especially not from someone so nice._

"Fuu huh, I like that name, so you hungry?"

"Are you deaf or something?"

"No not at all, just asked if you were hungry, which you never answered."

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE" She then took off at a full sprint then jumped onto the roofs.

 **She can kill you with one punch she's holds the Nanabi, she's the strongest physically of the Bijuu. You have such an idiotic tendency to befriend everyone you meet.**

 _Not now furball I have a new friend to make._

She ran until she arrived at a training ground that was thankfully empty. As she was about to sit down she noticed an odd human shaped shimmer. "If you're going to use a stealth jutsu, know how to fully use it otherwise you just look pathetic using a half complete jutsu." The jutsu faded and Naruto appeared with a sheepish grin. "Sheesh give a guy a break not going to perfect it unless I use it, practice makes perfect right?"

She sighed and looked up at the blond stranger who wouldn't leave her alone and sighed "why won't you just you just leave me alone?"

"Sorry I'm kinda stubborn, it's part of my charm hehe so just humor me please and let's get some food and if you want me to leave you alone after then I will.

 **Humor the child you see he won't leave you alone**

 _Leave me alone, you're the reason why I'm alone it's your fault that I'm like this._

 **Perhaps if you made the effort to befriend me and not control me you wouldn't be so alone Fuu**

"Fine let's go get something to eat and get this over with." _so I can be left alone again_

"Alright great! How does ramen sound? He said with a wide grin.

"Whatever."

The two Jinchuriki found a restaurant that served ramen nearby and sat in the back of the place, Naruto didn't need his friends walking by with his clone and seeing him.

She had noticed that Naruto kept looking at her "do I have something on my face?" She said in a slightly angry voice.

He gave a chuckle "No, your eyes are orange, if you couldn't tell, he raised his cloak showing the orange fire pattern, it's my favorite color, orange is pretty much the best color possible."

"Not much of a color for a ninja it stands out like a sore thumb, did you forget we're supposed to be stealthy." She said in a flat voice

"Ha this coming from the one wearing blinding white." He said with a smile to show he was joking

"Yeah well white's a pretty good color too" she said under her breath

"Not as good as orange."

"Shut up." She said with a small smirk that disappeared as fast as it came.

 _It comes so easy talking to her, huh just like, just exactly like Haku. She's really pretty too, oh no no no not falling for another enemy kunoichi._

 **You really are pathetic boy, damn it the stupid bug sensed me**

 **Fuu!**

 _What do you want Nanabi_

 **That boy, he holds Kur-the Kyuubi**

 _What are you talking about?_

 **I felt a surge of chakra I'm sure it belonged to the fox**

She looked at him "why didn't you tell me?"

 _Stupid fox_

"I didn't tell you because I wanted to get you to like me without knowing what I carry and also I wanted to make sure you weren't a threat to me or be inclined to tell your village about me and my skills. But seeing as how your teammates treated you it's safe to assume you hold no love for your village."

"How are you so happy? Why aren't you like me? I thought all Jinchuriki are treated the same." She looked at him with curiosity now rather than annoyance.

"I'm the Hokage's son, the people of Konoha are pretty accepting of Jinchuriki, they don't see me as a weapon they see me as another Shinobi who has made a great sacrifice for my village, a hero. Without me the Kyuubi would have ran rampant and possibly destroyed Konoha."

"Jinchuriki really aren't hated there. I wish Taki was the same I'm hated for something I had no control over. I hate it there."

"I know that being alone is awful, it's always good to talk about stuff like that, it gets that weight off your chest."

She hesitated and looked at him

 **He might not hold the same burden as you but he is a Jinchuriki nonetheless, I believe you can trust him**

She swallowed then said "The village leader, Shibuki, cares about me but he has more charisma than skill as a ninja, he's very smart and that's why he's the leader but he can't watch over one ninja when he has a whole village. Our Anbu took control of my training promising him I'd be treated right. That didn't happen and he's about low jounin rank, well compared to Anbu, well they treat me how they want and started my training with Nanabi right away. I can go to four tails worth before losing control. Me and Nanabi are on somewhat good terms but she's not free so when I lose control she can be difficult getting control back from ."

 **Maybe if you opened your seal**

 _You know that won't happen_

"The most I've gotten so far is one tail and even that was hard to control. Me and the fur ball aren't on the best of terms, most of our talks consist of him claiming he'll one day eat me." He said nonchalantly.

 _He's so different from how Jinchuriki usually are. He's so happy_

 **He has precious people, perhaps he could be one of yours Fuu.**

The two continued talking as they ate their meal, Fuu enjoying someone's company for the first time in what seemed like forever. By the time they left the restaurant the sun had set.

"So Fuu did you enjoy yourself?"

"Hmmm I think I want you to leave me alone." She smiled as he face faulted. "Thank you Naruto this was nice, I'll see you tomorrow fox boy."

"See you tomorrow bug girl."

With that the two new friends left to head back to their hotels. Naruto decided to scale the building as the clone hadn't dispelled yet so he didn't know where it was at, for all he knew it could be in the lobby. This was not the case however as when he arrived to his room he 1 saw his clone asleep, ASLEEP and 2 Sasuke and Sakura were knocking at his door. He dispelled the clone, receiving all its memories and opened the door for his two teammates.

"Can I help you two?"

"Did you read your letter?" Sakura asked, her voice laced with concern

"Hurry up and read it, we need to prepare, it's in your dress clothes."

Naruto saw how serious his two friends were and immediately grabbed his dress clothes and pulled them out of his bag along with them came a letter with the hokage seal on in. He bit his thumb and wiped the blood across the seal. The seal faded away allowing him to open the letter. The letter was a mission with information on it concerning a rogue Konoha Shinobi with information on jutsu he stole and how they work, there was a rumor that he would be in attendance at the dinner tomorrow night which is the entire point of the dinner, all Konoha genin were informed of this and they were to apprehend him together, he was low chunin rank when he left not too long ago but still better safe than sorry. The letter burned away after he read it.

"Alright how'd you guys even get your letters?" He asked

"They were on our beds when we got back to our rooms, everyone else should have the same letter." Sasuke said

"The ninja is disguised as a sand shinobi, we're going to have to follow him after dinner." Naruto said as he was looking at a picture of a Shinobi who had most of his face covered. The top of his head was wrapped and a sheet covered half of his face. He had two distinct red markings on the visible side of his face though so finding him wouldn't prove difficult at the dinner.

"Alright we all need to be rested, tomorrow morning we'll meet here I have a few silencing seals so no one will be able to eavesdrop on us." Naruto said. His two friends nodded and left his room. _Great right before the chunin exams we have to complete a mission, this will be fun._

Next day

"Alright everyone are we clear on what everyone is supposed to do?" Naruto asked all the Konoha genin who were all dressed and ready for the dinner. They were going over their plan one last time in Naruto's room before the dinner which started in half an hour. Everyone nodded and had looks of determination. "Alright good, let's head out." The group left and walked over to a huge lit up building that would be easy to see from across the village. They walked inside and were greeted by two Anbu who told them where their table was and that they were all expected to be seated in 20 minutes otherwise they were free to talk to others and walk around the building. Naruto, who was leading the group, glanced back at everyone, and then walked away, intent on finding the traitor Shinobi.

 _Nope not over there, not over there either, damn it where is this guy, this place is full of Suna Shinobi and of course majority of them have wrappings in some way._

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Fuu standing behind him wearing a white dress that had mint green stitching, really drawing attention to her hair and making her eyes stand out. "Wow you clean up nice fox boy." He was wearing a black Haori with a black and orange Kimono with black pants and black sandals.

"Hehe y-yeah you too Fuu." He said stumble over his words slightly _Wow she looks great_

"Wish I could sit with you, my teammates are morons and have been pissed off since yesterday."

"Sorry about that I didn't mean to create more problems for you."

"No it's ok, hey if you didn't do what you did then we wouldn't have become friends."

He smiled at her and was about to say something when he heard a deep voice

 **Don't you have a mission never mind the bug now**

"You ok? You leave your mouth open like that you're going to swallow a fly." She said with a smile

"Yeah I'm good, my tenant is just being annoying, hey this place is huge, how about we do some exploring?" He said with a smile _I know I have that mission but I don't want to just leave her, I can search for the guy and hang out with her at the same time._

"Alright lead the way." She said with a smile

The two teens walked around the complex enjoying each other's company but Naruto still didn't see the Shinobi. He saw a door that lead to a balcony "Let's get some fresh air, we're going to have to go back soon."

"Yeah that sounds good."

He was so preoccupied talking to Fuu that he didn't notice as the door opened and a Suna Shinobi walked out and walked right into Naruto, knocking him down in the process.

"You ok kid?" The Shinobi asked in a gruff voice that sounded like he didn't care if Naruto was ok or not.

"Yeah I'm fine sorry about that wasn't paying attention."

The Shinobi stuck his hand out and Naruto looked up and saw his face before taking the ninjas hand to help pull him up off the ground.

"Thanks for that, sorry again."

"Yeah watch where you're going next time."

 _Got him with a tracking seal, not going to be so hard to find next time you bastard._

"What're you smiling about?" Fuu asked her blond companion

"Huh oh uh _crap think of a lie think of a lie_ uh just ya know happy to be spending time with you." He said with a smile.

She felt her face heat up slightly and was thankful for the night hiding the fact that her face was most likely red at this. "Y-yeah you too."

"The exams start in a few days, you excited?" Naruto asked as he looked out towards the village.

"Yeah I wasn't before but now I am."

"What why weren't you before? I can't wait to get promoted."

"Well I get to see you, so you better not get eliminated fox boy."

"Me, hah never, I'm not letting anyone stop me I will get through all these exams."

"It's a shame I will have to kill you both then, mother demands it." A dull, emotionless voice said.

The pair turned around, unsurprised as they turned around and looked at the boy standing in front of them. He had blood red hair and the kanji for love marked on his head and had real eyes with dark black markings around them. He wore a black body suit with an open neck, t-shirt-like sleeves, and almost full-length leggings. He had a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips and carried a large gourd on his back.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, his body tense and ready to move if necessary.

"Gaara, who are you two, mother has never wanted someone's blood so badly."

"I'm Naruto Namikaze, container of the Kyuubi."

"I'm Fuu, I hold the Nanabi, you hold the Ichibi don't you."

"Yes I do, I won't kill you yet, soon though very soon I will." And with that the boy disappeared in a swirl of sand.

"His seal must be incredibly loose, the Ichibi is exerting a lot of influence on him, be careful Fuu he's dangerous."

"Yeah I could tell, Nanabi is telling me the same thing, he was staring at you the whole time, watch out during the exams."

"Mhm I will." He had his eyes closed and looked very similar to a fox, a similarity the mint haired girl commented on.

"You know you look almost exactly like a fox with your face like that, I think I like fox face better than fox boy." She said with a smile.

He looked over at her with a slight smile "Oh is that right bug eyes."

"Don't call me that" she said with a laugh and a playful punch. However Naruto had forgotten about her enhanced strength and so didn't tense his body, resulting in him being turned with the punch and losing his footing. "Crap!"

He instinctively reached out and Fuu reached forward. He grabbed her hand but he was already on his way down, bringing Fuu with him resulting with both teens on the floor with Fuu on top of him.

"Oow did you have to punch so hard?" He said rubbing his head.

"Sorry I had assumed the Hokage's son could take a punch." She said with a laugh. Both teens had their eyes closed and hadn't exactly realized the position they were in.

"Hey uhh Fuu."

"Yeah Naruto? She opened her eyes GAH! Sorry sorry sorry!" She said as she pushed herself off and to the side landing in a sitting position as Naruto pushed himself into one as well. "Sorry about that." She said thankful again that the night covered the red tinge to her face.

"Heh yeah no problem, I didn't know how strong you really are." He said as he pushed himself up and then reached down and pulled his companion up as well.

"Thanks fox face."

"Uh huh keep it up bug girl. Come on we should head down already the dinner is going to start soon." He smiled and the two walked back into the dining hall right as everyone was about to take their seats. "See you later Fuu." He said with a smile and wave as he walked towards his friends

Naruto sat down and gave a small subtle nod to everyone letting them know he found the Shinobi.

"Psst Naruto"

"What Kiba?"

"Dude who was that chick you were with?" At this Ino and Sakura's heads shot up and looked over at the blond.

"Jeez thanks Kiba." Naruto said as he saw the two girls glancing around looking for the girl.

Just as Kiba opened his mouth they heard a loud boom as the doors for a balcony that hung over the dining area opened up and out stepped the leaders from every village save for Kiri and Ame. The Kazekage stepped forward used a voice enhancing jutsu

"Thank you all of you for joining in the chunin exams, I especially would like to thank the Hokage, Minato Namikaze, for getting all of these great villages to agree to join for the first time ever in a chunin exams of this size. Now then the real purpose of these exams are well to replace wars. The final trial is a fight in front of many people and the Daimyō's. Those fights allow villages to show off their most prospective genin and in turn show the villages power, in result getting more jobs from various sources and discouraging other villages from attacking. With that being said we, he motioned to the leaders on either side of him, expect you all to do your absolute best and make friends amongst each other to strengthen the bonds between us all, now all of you enjoy yourselves."

And with that a table came into existence with a poof of smoke that the Kages and leaders sat around. Their food was served first then several waiters came around and began serving all the genin. Everyone ate, talking amongst themselves, the only beverage that was served was sake as they were all adults in the ninja world. They didn't drink much, it wouldn't do them well to be drunk while chasing after the missing-nin.

The group finished eating and one by one the other tables excused themselves. The Konoha genin left the same way they came in and immediately turned right.

"Come on guys he's not too far away I can feel his chakra signature." A tracking seal amplifies the target's chakra signature only to the one who applied the seal, enabling them to track the target no matter the distance as they would always sense their chakra.

The group rounded a corner and came to a stop in front of an alleyway, where the missing nin was waiting for them.

"Nice job you all found me, now then Kai!" He put his hands in the ram seal and immediately the team became incredibly drowsy.

"W-W-Wha-a-t d-did y-you d-do?" Naruto asked as he dropped to his knees, his friends already asleep.

"Hehe you'll see now be a good little genin and let the food do its job."

Naruto tried to channel the bijuu chakra but found he couldn't. His eyes became even heavier and then the world went black.

"I SAID WAKE UP DAMN IT!"

Naruto felt light contact against his cheek and then felt cold. He opened his eyes and saw shoes then his world tilted and he was looking up at the missing-nin.

"ARGH ILL KILL YOU!" He tried to move but his legs and arms were bound behind a chair.

"That wire keeps your chakra suppressed, even bijuu chakra. Now, finally you're awake so we can get to the fun part." The ninja pulled a kunai out "those jutsu that were reported I stole, I didn't get away with all of them, I know though that you were given a very good description of how each jutsu works so you'd recognize when I used them and how to combat them. I want all of those jutsu and the ones you know as well. Do this and I won't kill you or your friends. It's a really easy decision Gaki."

"Heh you really think I'd betray my village like that? You're a moron." Naruto said with a smile. He received a punch to his stomach and a cut across his cheek in return. "Bastard, heh was that supposed to hurt? You really are one pathetic ninja." _Kyuubi you in there? I could really use some rent right now._ He didn't receive an answer _damn it I'm on my own, hopefully someone will escape and get us out of here, I can't even use my distress seal to get my dad here damn it I'm screwed._

"Hehe tough talk kid, I like it it'll be even better when you break." The ninja walked behind Naruto.

"Hey now I don't swing that way what're you doing back there?" He said with a chuckle

"Funny kid." He then grabbed Naruto's hands and dragged the kunai across the front and back of his hands. "Feel like talking now kid?"

"This is nothing compared to what Zabuza put me through, you're gonna have to try harder." He said, the same smile on his face still.

"Alright kid I gave you several chances, and those seals on your clothing won't protect you this time, they have no chakra to draw on." He then gave slashed across Naruto's chest. He yelled in pain and tried to get his breathing back in control. "Argh I'm going to fucking kill you I swear I'm going to get out of this and shove that kunai into your damn heart you bastard!"

The ninja grabbed his hair and put the kunai to his throat "This is it kid tell me what I want to know or I kill you!"

"So be it, heh go fuck yourself."

"Congratulations, you pass the first exam." The chair began to glow green and the wires fell off. Naruto stood up and looked at the ninja. "You bastards that's why we were required to leave so early the exams start date was false."

"Yes the first exam was to test your loyalty to your village. There will be times where you can be captured during a mission and if so we need to make sure you won't give up any secrets and can withstand torture, there's always a chance for survival as well so we don't want you to throw your life away the second you get captured. You pass with flying colors, as did all of your fellow Konoha genin. Again congratulations. You pass the first trial. You may exit the room and join with your team. There will be another area that opens up stand in the center of the room and channel chakra to the ground."

Naruto walked out and greeted his friends. "Heh you guys ok?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised you passed dobe I would've thought that you'd pass out." He said with a smile.

"Oh shut up teme I must've had it worse than you, there's no way they would've put a weak Shinobi like you through the same thing as me." Naruto said, smiling as Sasuke became visibly annoyed. "What about you Sakura? You ok?"

"Heh yeah I've uhh been done for awhile, my strength isn't reliant on chakra so I kinda broke out of the wires right away and sent the guy through the wall, thankfully he was an earth clone."

"Nice one haha, alright let's go to the next room. I'm ready for round two!"

The group went into the room and channeled chakra and with a whirl they were gone.

"Ah crap I feel really bad for Kichi that was awful." Naruto said as he stumbled around.

"That wasn't pleasant." Sasuke said as his face turned slightly green."

"Jeez Naruto you do that to your poor summons, I couldn't tell which was was up or down for a few seconds."

The smoke cleared and the group looked up at where they were at. Several other groups were appearing in puffs of smoke as well.

"Welcome to the second trial!"

"What the hell, this is-this is insane!" Naruto shouted

 **Sorry for the late update on this one it took a while to write I couldn't think of what I wanted to do for the first part of the exam but I definitely know what I'm doing for the second part so hopefully won't be too long till that one comes out. As always thank you guys for supporting this story and continue to drop comments and follow and favorite this story. Thank you guys and see you all next time!**


	7. The Second Trial

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and well never is a strong word, most likely won't own it.**

 **The Second Trial**

"This is insane, how did you guys make this?!" The group had appeared right outside of a seemingly endless city made of various sized buildings, some small and some touching the sky. Some were made of stones and the others were made of wood. After the puffs of smokes ended, signifying the last of the team's passing the first test, several ninja from various villages walked out of the building. A man wearing the standard Konoha-nin attire walked out in front of the rest and said "Alright I'm the proctor for the second round, my name is Yamato. The second round will be a game of capture the flag in this city with a twist." He gained a rather devious smile and pointed over to a stall that had several Shinobi in it. "Over there you will receive a tag with a number on it, you must capture the corresponding flag, two teams will have the same tag so at least half of you will be eliminated, however it's not only each other you have to worry about when capturing the flags." At this the Shinobi behind him all performed the same seals. Once the sequence was done loud, demonic roars could be heard coming from all over the city. "Those are golems, all infused with each of the five elements. In order to capture the flag you must defeat the golem and the other team must be knocked unconscious or killed. The tags will be synced to all of your bodies and once they detect that a team is unconscious or dead, the barriers surrounding the flag will drop allowing you to get your flag. Once you have the flag you will head to the center of the city, about four days from your current position. You will have one week to get the flag and make it to the center. Don't worry about food there are many rivers flowing throughout the city that all contain fish and their are various plant life as well. Goodluck to you all and be careful this may very well be the last week of some of your lives."

 _Jeez what a way to get us excited for this, it's the real deal this time though the three of us will need to be careful to survive this_. Naruto thought to himself as he and his team walked to the stall to receive their crest. "You guys ready for this?" Naruto asked with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, why getting scared dobe?"

He just glared at the raven haired boy then turned to Sakura.

"Yeah I'm just as ready as you guys are, I'm not holding you guys back anymore I promise." She said with a newfound confidence in her voice.

"Alright let's go!" Naruto shouted with a smile, drawing the attention of various teams.

"Hey uhh we're still in our dress clothes. And why're your clothes all torn? Sakura asked.

"Yeah unlike you they actually cut us, they were shallow cuts thankfully and the chair had healing seals on it, tousan has been working on them for awhile with Tsunade Baa-chan. They only work on more minor injuries though so that's why all of our cuts were rather shallow." Naruto said while he rubbed his hands over his chest on the spot where the Suna-nin had slashed.

While Naruto was explaining, the various teams began shouting at Yamato due to the fact that they as well were all in their dress clothes.

 _Why couldn't someone else be proctor_ Yamato thought before he used chakra to enhance his voice and shouted "If you'd all pay attention there are stalls behind each team. In there will be each team member's names, one person at a time will go in there, you bite your thumb and swipe the blood across your name. All of your gear and clothes will appear, now hurry up we need to start soon so once you're changed go and grab your tags then go back to the areas you each appeared in."

Everyone did as they were told and 20 minutes later everyone was back at the starting areas ready to go. "Alright on my count the second exam begins. Three, two, one BEGIN!" Yelled Yamato. And with that everyone took off as fast as possible into the city to find their flags.

"Dobe did you see who has the same number as us?" Sasuke asked as Naruto was the one to grab the tag.

"Yeah it was the Oto genin, they didn't see me though but they started quite a bit away from us

we should find a place to stay in a few hours, damn we were out for awhile before the interrogation." The sun was already beginning to set signifying that they all had actually been knocked out for, at the very least, a full night's rest.

The trio alternated from running along the roads to going through buildings, trying at all costs to avoid running along the rooftops, they did not want to be that open especially with all the many, many teams active. After a bit they found one of the large streams flowing through the city. They stopped and Naruto made several shadow clones to span the river and then they cut the stream allowing Sasuke and Sakura to easily just pluck the fish right out of the stream.

After that Naruto created a small fire and soon the fish were cooking. Naruto used small wind jutsu to divert the smoke, keeping their positions safe.

"Alright that building in the distance, the one with the tree growing through it, we make it there and set camp for the night, it's large enough so that even if someone finds us there's plenty of room to fight properly." Naruto said with authority, looking at Sasuke the entire time, who surprisingly enough, didn't challenge the blonde haired teen.

The group ate then made their way to the building. Once there they made it to the middle of the building where Naruto went about setting perimeter seals. After that they climbed into the tree, the branches were already quite wide and had plenty of leaves even at this height. After making sure that they were secure and hidden in the leaves, the teens dozed off into sleep.

It was the middle of the night when the perimeter seal had been breached, waking him up at the same time as the Kyuubi did.

 **NARUTO GET OUT OF THERE!**

He had never heard the Kyuubi sound this way, he knew whoever was coming towards them was not someone to mess with so with that in mind he threw all subtlety to the wind and shouted "SASUKE SAKURA RUN!" The teens were up in an instant and one look at Naruto was all the reasons they needed to take off. Naruto slapped a few explosive tags onto the tree and took off after his friends. After they were on the roof of the next building Naruto shouted "KAI!" Causing the tree and building to go up in flames as a massive explosion shook the area. Before the teens could relax a giant snake shot out of the explosion, completely unharmed by the raging inferno.

"Oh Kami no, Sasuke it's a snake summon, we need to get out of here fast." He looked over to Sasuke who had gone pale at the realization of just who it was they were dealing with. Meanwhile Sakura looked to be getting confused more and more by the second. "What does it matter that it's a snake summon?" She asked.

"Two people have the contract, one of them is back in Konoha, the other is Orochimaru." Naruto said in a grave voice. Sakura paled at this, everyone knew about the snake sannin and what he was capable of. "Summoning jutsu!" Naruto shouted. Immediately afterwards the trio were suddenly elevated several stories higher than they originally were. "Gaki you ready for that drink?" A deep loud voice said, if the explosion hadn't woken everyone up, Gamabunta's voice would've done the job. Naruto shot off several blasts from his ring high into the sky that all exploded loudly. "No sorry Bunta-San but I have a snake problem, I'm alerting tousan right now but I need your help if I want me and my friends to survive this." "What!? That bastard Orochimaru is here, but why?"

"My my Naruto-kun Minato and that fool Jiraiya have taught you well." Orochimaru said as he appeared from the floor. "Ah Bunta how nice to see you, perhaps I should summon Manda for you to play with." The Snake Sannin said with a smile.

"Please do I've been needing a new wallet." Bunta said, a large puff of smoke escaping his mouth.

"Summoning jutsu" Orochimaru said with a smile. A giant three headed brown snake appeared. Both the snake and Orochimaru struck forward, Gamabunta drew his blade then jumped forward, right when he was over the snake he swung the blade down, taking all three heads off at once. He landed on another building with a resounding boom as it was strained to carry his weight. "Striking shadow snakes!" The serpent's began wrapping around Gamabunta's legs, but despite his size Bunta could move with incredible speed and agility and such in one fluid motion he spun in a full 180, slicing through all of the snakes. "Alright Gaki, do you know your dad's or Jiraiya techniques with me?"

"Y-yeah I do"

"Alright good I'll supply the oil, you and whoever else can up there supply the fire. Toad oil gun!"

"Ready Sasuke?"

"Yeah Katon: fireball jutsu!"

"Katon: fireball jutsu!"

The boy's fire collided with the oil and the entire area in front of them was covered in the enhanced flames.

"My my that's quite the jutsu." Gamabunta turned around to see Orochimaru standing without a scratch on him. He smiled and slammed his hands down again, summoning two snakes that were much larger than the first one. "Kill the toad!" The snakes lunged forward and Gamabunta jumped out of the way, shooting water bullets as he did. Orochimaru used the distraction to get behind the giant toad and jump up onto him with a smile as he stared at his prey.

"Katon: crescent slash"

"Fuuton: crescent slash"

Naruto's technique combined with Sasuke, creating a much larger and faster blade of fire that Orochimaru jumped over. Due to the night covering some of their movements they were able to hide a surprise for the snake in the attacks and once the snake had landed they both pulled back, bringing in the shuriken that they had hidden in the attacks, attached to ninja wire. The blades curved around the snake several times then the boys pulled again tightening around him. "My whatever will I do now?"

"Sakura we'll make an opening, go in and hit him as hard as you can once you see it." Naruto said as Sasuke shouted "Katon: dragon fire jutsu."

"Fuuton: drilling wind bullet" the bullet combined with the fire, creating a fast moving inferno that hit the sannin, engulfing him in flames. Sakura ran forward and with all her strength delivered an uppercut to the flaming mass launching it high into the air. Once it hit its peak in ascent, the boys pulled the ropes down and to the right, slamming him into, and sending through, the roof of a nearby building. Naruto ran forward and jumped over the building and shouted "demonic ring, multiple blasts!" He fired off several shots of bijuu chakra into the hole, sending the snake all the way to the floor. Naruto landed on the building then jumped back to his friends. "Stay on your guard." Naruto said, worry still in his voice.

"Yes you two will do well." The snake jumped up out of the hole without a scratch on him. He had a wide grin as he stared at the trio. He jumped forward as one of his snakes crashed into the building, gashes all across it. The sannin landed and shot forward. Naruto called forth some of the nine tails chakra, coating him in a shapeless red mist. The sannin ran forward, engaging the trio in a taijutsu match. Naruto and Sasuke fought well together with their swords and would purposely leave openings for Sakura to throw in punches, overall their teamwork was almost flawless. Despite this, they couldn't land a hit on the snake who had yet to throw a punch himself.

A single pink petal fell in front of Orochimaru, soon many began falling all around him _A genjutsu huh, these three could grow to be something special._ He dispelled it right as Sakura was throwing a punch. He caught the punch and pulled her arm forward, throwing her off balance. He landed a quick succession of blows to her side. As he was about to kick her in the back Naruto and Sasuke appeared and slashed at him, forcing him to weave around the attacks. They came at him from both sides, the snake grabbed their blades with his hands then jumped and performed a powerful split kick to both the boys sending them back a good distance.

Sakura was still recovering on the floor after the attack _hmm this will be much easier with one less problem_ he ran towards the downed girl picked her up by the throat and delivered a swift knee to her stomach then threw her with enough force to go through the wall of a nearby building.

His final snake crashed to the ground, missing it's head. _Damn that toad, I will need to finish this soon Minato will be undoubtedly be on his way_ he ran towards Naruto who had just stood up.

 _Damn it we can't hold off much longer, tousan should be here soon but this guy is just toying with us what the hell does he want._ The blond moved to slash forward and created a rasengan when Orochimaru dodged the feint. The snake grabbed his wrist and diverted the rasengan by pulling the blond forward into the sannin's fist, depriving the boy of oxygen.

Sasuke saw as Orochimaru's neck elongated and then went down, biting his friend on the neck before tossing him aside. He felt a burning is his eyes, so far he had been unable to properly follow the snake, but now his movements became readable, he could see more definition as the snake ran forward and was able to easily dodge the snakes that shot from his arm. "Good Sasuke, you've gotten all three tomoe now." Orochimaru said with a smile that would be enough to chill mosts blood cold. His neck elongated again and flew at Sasuke who didn't have the speed necessary to dodge. He felt a burning and then pain like he had never known then the world went black.

"Let's see if you two are strong enough to survive my gift." And with that the snake went into the ground as if it were water, ripples spreading out over the area.

Sakura woke with a start to water being sprayed into her face. "I'm almost out of chakra and I need to get the three of you out of here I can't make it too far but many other teams will be converging on this area to see what happened, grab the other two, the snake did something to them hopefully Minato will know what to do." Thankfully she still had plenty of chakra and was able to pick up both of her unconscious team members and hold on as the boss summon leaped away. She had to steel herself when she first saw her teammates, the site bringing her close to tears. _Have to be strong, they need me right now more than ever to protect them._

"Alright I'm about empty i'll dispel before I land so I won't give away your position by all the noise when I land, so prepare yourself to jump." Before he dispelled Sakura jumped off onto the roof of a nearby building, shortly after a cloud of smoke engulfed the area and she took of running as fast as she could while holding her teammates under each arm. _Can't run far like this but I need to still get away from here._ Thankfully Bunta had left her not too far from a stream, she could feel the heat radiating off from the boys so she would need that water to try and cool them off.

She made her to a larger building that was a few seconds dead sprint away from the stream. She again went to the middle of the building and set the boys down. She went through Naruto's gear and found more perimeter seals, she then proceeded to set them about in the corners of the room and then cast a genjutsu, making anyone else see a false wall a few feet in front of her. Given to her lack of experience with the technique, someone who looked close enough might be able to tell that it was a genjutsu but hopefully it would give her enough time to either flee or make a plan should the situation arise.

 _The seals are set and the boys have wet rags on their foreheads, I need sleep, can't defend them properly if I'm half awake when an enemy comes._ With that the pinkete fell into an uneasy sleep.

 **Outskirts of the city**

"Why are you here Orochimaru." Minato said as he landed on a very large branch of a tree,his signature tri-pronged kunai in hand. Orochimaru walked out of the trunk, using the same technique as when he went sunk into the building. "Ah now is not the time to reveal my plans Minato, however I must say Naruto is quite skilled for someone his age." The snake said with a smile. Minato's grip tightened considerably on the kunai and his face set in a stone like mask, completely devoid of emotion, giving him a very intimidating look, the look of a hardened Shinobi. In a flash he appeared behind Orochimaru, a very large rasengan fully formed. The jutsu ripped right through him, but instead of blood, mud and rocks flew everywhere.

All of the larger trees were marked with his Hirashin as Yamato simply made sticks to begin with and then Minato would appear at each one, growing them using his Nine tails chakra mode. The large ones required much more time though so he would grow them as much as possible in a day then leave to grow the others but rather than run back he placed his Hirashin mark on them.

"Ah ah ah Minato, now is not the time for fighting though that will come soon. Do not stop the chunin exams or interfere with them in any way Minato, otherwise I promise you I will destroy Taki first and every village I come across on my way to Konoha." The snake said with a smile before Minato sent his arm right through the Sannin's stomach, his chakra mode activated. The sannin again turned to mud but another one did not reappear. He deactivated the nine tails chakra mode and sighed as he ran his hand through his hair, contemplating his options.

 _Damn it that wasn't an empty threat and I can't go about running through the city trying to find Naruto, Kichi said that he was still alive so I have to trust that he's completely okay._ Gamabunta had sent Gamakichi to inform Minato of what happened with their fight with Orochimaru. He had appeared as fast as possible and could feel Orochimaru's chakra using sage mode. He teleported back to the main building in the center of the city, he needed to inform Jiraiya of this so they could make a plan on what to do next.

 **Next Morning**

Sakura awoke to hearing slight groans coming from the boys. She took the rags off, which thankfully weren't too hot, and quickly went to the stream and back, placing the cold rags on their foreheads again. She had never appreciated the harsh training she went through after the land of waves more at that time as before the genjutsu creating the wall would have all but emptied her chakra reserves, now it had barely put a drop in them. She had worked hard to get her chakra capacity up as before it was, in all honesty, just above a civilian's, very low for even a fresh genin.

She went about the day setting up traps all over the very large floor she was in, there wasn't separate rooms, the wide open spaces were considerably better for open combat and well why waste the chakra in creating thousands of buildings with separate rooms in each one.

Naruto awoke inside the familiar sewer that housed the Kyuubi. After walking for a few minutes he arrived at the cell only to see the demon fox banging against the seal, with each bang some of the demon's chakra slipped out.

 **Damn that snake**

"Kyuubi what's going on what are you doing?"

 **Do you remember anything about your encounter with the snake?** The Kyuubi said in between slams.

"I remember fighting Orochimaru...he uh he knocked Sakura out…we fought one on one and...MY NECK" he reached to his neck and when he pulled his hand back he saw it was covered in a black liquid. "What the what is this?"

 **Orochimaru put one of his disgusting experiments on you, a curse seal. It allows him to put some of his chakra inside of you which will grow with more usage of the seal, allowing him to exert control over the person with the seal. I'm trying to force more of my chakra into you which will over power and break the seal but this damn snake applied a rather powerful one. It's making the process much more difficult, you're lucky that my chakra is healing you otherwise you'd be in immense pain.** The demon said this last part with a hint of disappointment.

Naruto looked down into the water and saw his reflection without distortion. He turned his head and saw the seal which looked like three slightly curved lines, which spread out a rip-like pattern over his neck. The liquid was falling from the tips of the lines and they seemed to be getting shorter, although very slowly. "Well I appreciate the fact that you care enough about me to do this."

 **I'm not doing this for you, you pathetic human. I can't have a host who is the subject of a disgusting humans experiments or slave, knowing that man, it would not end well for me and I will not have my host used as such.**

"Hm, you're doing it because you like me." The blonde said with a smile.

 **I will enjoy the day I finally am able to kill you. Now shut up I need to concentrate on loosening this damn seal.**

Naruto decided to stand and watch as the giant demon smashed into the seal continuously. The ink from the seal began to fall off quicker now, soon it would be completely off.

Sakura awoke and immediately began looking around from the cover of her genjutsu, the perimeter had been breached. She saw immediately saw the culprits, the sound trio.

 _Damn it are we that close to the golem or do I have that bad of luck that they landed in this building._

"Where the hell are they Dosu? They're not here!" A boy wearing a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for death down the front said to his other teammate, identified as Dosu. The boy looked like a mummy with bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered. He also wore a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck and a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf. The boy also had a large device on his arm that had several holes in it.

"Shut up Zaku I know what I'm doing." He then looked to their last teammate, a girl wearing a green vest and snake patterned pants and scarf. "Kin." He then looked forward. The kunoichi nodded and with extreme speed threw several senbon straight ahead. Sakura tensed, but didn't move as before the senbon could hit kunai shot forward, deflecting the senbon.

"They've set traps huh, don't move forward, Zaku if you would do the honors."

"With pleasure." The boy said with a grin as he outstretched both of his hands and with a shout said "Slicing Sound Wave!" The blast went through the fake wall and smashed into the actual one, raising dust and debris. When the dirt settled there was a gaping hole present but no people were present.

"What the h-" was all the mummy boy got out before explosions went off, bringing down the entire building.

Sakura was standing on a much lower building, the boys behind her. Part of her provisions was a way out, she had weakened a section of the wall behind her to the point where simply leaning against it would've caused it to crumble away. The second the boy, Zaku, had raised his arms she pressed on that section and jumped out holding the boys. Then she set off her trap, causing the whole building to fall in tremendous explosion. She grabbed the boys and began jumping across the rooftops as fast as possible, attempting to get away from the large cloud of debris currently trailing after her. Soon the debris inevitably caught her, forcing her to jump down into an alley between two buildings for cover. The cloud flew past over head for a time then it ended. As she was about to let out a breath in relief, the unmistakable sound of metal flying through the air reached her ears. Immediately she jumped up back to the roof tops, the alley was two narrow to fight properly.

Following after her were the sound trio, looking no more worse for wear than they had before "H-how? I dropped that building on you guys how the hell are you alive still?"

"It'll take a lot more than that to kill us, didn't you see what Zaku was able to do with wind? He simply shot a powerful blast above and below us, giving us somewhere to land and preventing any debris from falling on us." Dosu said with a happiness in his voice that chilled Sakura, he enjoyed the process his victims went through when they realized their attacks had completely failed.

"How about this, you hand over your two friends there and I'll kill you fast, a quick shot of my air will puncture right through you, you won't feel a thing. So how about it hm?" Zaku said with a smirk. Sakura got into a fighting stance, choosing to not give a verbal response.

"Hm, stupid choice, but this way is much more fun for us, Slicing Sound Wave!" Sakura ran forward then crossed her arms. However instead of slicing right through the young girl, the blasts were stopped completely. Zaku's once arrogant face morphed into one of shock, bordering fear. "What the hell?! Nothing can block that nothing at all!"

Sakura looked up and smiled, her arms were a deep brown almost black. "Well apparently they can't cut through diamond." She said with a smile, truth be told though she didn't have anywhere near mastery over earth spear and in fact her skin wasn't as hard as diamond yet, closer to perhaps tempered steel. She'd be able to block that attack consistently, but if he shot a considerably stronger variant, well she didn't want to test that out.

 _I'm only going to have a few attacks while using this, it drains my chakra rather quick, I need to make sure to land only at most two hits on each of them. Any more than that and I'll be running low on chakra and the attacks won't be as effective._

She shot forward with blinding speeds, focusing chakra to her leg to give her an increase in take off speed, running straight towards Zaku. Her darkened fist collided with the boy's stomach, launching him away and off the roof. She then turned towards Dosu and ran at him, engaging in a taijutsu match. The mummy like boy opted to dodge her attacks rather than block, her jutsu was deactivated but he knew she'd use it the second she saw an opening. She couldn't seem to land a hit on the boy, every punch and kick she threw the boy dodged, but he hadn't gone on the offense yet. Unfortunately she didn't know Dosu's ability with sound control from his gauntlet, and soon her vision doubled. Dosu saw her eyes quickly dart to the left and right, he smiled under his wrappings and threw a punch, catching the pink haired girl right in the jaw. As her body turned though, she grabbed the hand he had punched with and turned more, pulling the boy with her. She caught her footing and continued the initial turn until she threw him right into the last remaining team member, sending both teens off the edge of the building, joining their other teammate.

Sakura jumped down, throwing kunai at the trio, who were still gathering their bearings, during her descent. The kunai were to separate the group, which they did, and once she landed she dashed towards Kin who only had time to put her arms up in a measly defense that the pinks haired kunoichi broke through easily using earth spear, the attack completely shattering Kins right arm as that had been the one to take the full force. She then changed direction and went after Dosu as Zaku was still on the ground recovering from the blow.

She and the boy again engaged in a fierce taijutsu match, the boy again dodging the attacks. She was more aiming to hit his gauntlet than him as she had not wanted to got through a repeat of the effects from the tool. The lashed out with a low kick that was a feint as instead of completing the kick she placed it down and pulled her body forward, extending her reach and slammed her fist into the gauntlet. Unfortunately she hadn't been a hundred percent sure that the attack would hit but she still cracked the device nonetheless.

"Argh my arm, you bitch I'm going to enjoy killing you." Dosu said with a rage that was unusual for him. He struck forward but he had not meant for the attack to actually make contact, she had leaned her and his arm came parallel with her ear. She quickly activated the jutsu on that area of her head to hopefully lessen the damage caused, which somewhat worked. She saw double again and went off balance slightly but it was nothing the young kunoichi couldn't handle. _Fine I can't accurately hit him then I'll go for a wide area attack._ She leaped back then dashed forward and jumped into the air, planning on landing with an axe kick that would have create a decent sized crater had Zaku not used his wind to soften the ground so much that she instead sunk her leg down to her thigh in the soft ground.

Zaku was having a lot of trouble standing up, in fact he was positive that the punch had broken some ribs and possibly ruptured some organs so all he could do at that point was shoot his air into the ground as he couldn't move all to well. But even doing that was enough as Sakura was struggling to pull her leg out. By this time Kin had recovered and threw two senbon that landed behind Sakura. The two senbon had bells attached to them that gently jingled in the breeze. The sound hit Sakura and her arms almost gave out as the world tripled.

"Good job Kin, time to finish this." Dosu said as he flicked his gauntlet and watched as Sakura's eyes widened as his technique hit her and she fell backwards. Dosu walked over to Zaku and helped him up "Alright finish her Zaku." Dosu said, sounding very pleased that they'd be able to carry out their mission now. Sakura had managed to get back on her elbows after she had lost her breakfast, the sounds giving incredible vertigo. She could see Zaku raise his arm and activated earth spear on as much of her body as possible before the wind hit her, sending her through a building.

"There's no way she survived that, now hurry up and go kill those kids I-he then leaned over and spat out blood-fuck I need to be healed-he spat up a much larger glob of blood-that stupid bitch" Zaku said, his breathing and talking becoming more labored with each word.

Before the trio could take another step they felt fear. Fear like they had never felt before as a roar rang out. An evil, demonic, monstrous roar rang out and shook them to their core and then a red blur landed in front of them and stood up, looking at the trio. They saw a blonde haired teen with blood red eyes. His pupils were now horizontal slits, his whisker like marks had grown and became darker. His lips gained a black outline and his canines had grown longer and sharper. But the most noticeable change was the red shroud surrounding him, with three tails swaying behind him. The chakra that was rolling off of the blond haired teen was even more oppressive than Orochimaru's, causing the trio to almost shake with fear.

His tail shot out behind him, wrapping around his teammate and bringing her forward. The chakra spurred her awake and she gasped when she saw Naruto. Sakura had various gashes all over her body, with a large concentration of them on her stomach. There was blood coming from her ears and her cheek was swollen slightly. Overall she looked like close to death. Covered in blood, visibly weak and pale. Naruto felt his rage grow and a nub of a 4th tail began to grow

 **Moments Earlier: Naruto's psyche**

"Hurry up furball I don't know how much time has passed I need to make sure my friends are ok!"

 **Silence you insolent worm I am not doing this for you I am doing this to ensure I don't become a slave now stay quiet damn it**

"Alright alright don't hurt yourself big guy." Naruto said with a snicker as the Kyuubi was slamming into the gate with much more force than before. _Definitely going to need tousan to look at the seal afterwards, he's pumping quite a bit of his chakra into me. Can't be good for the seal I don't want him to be able to exert any more influence on me than he already has._

He looked into the water and saw the seal fall away faster and faster, ink trailing down his body. With one last mighty slam the seal broke. Naruto shouted in pain it he felt like his neck had just been branded as the seal popped off. The quick burst of pain was enough to drop him to his knee as he shouted. "Fuck that hurt, anyways time to leave, I know I know you did this for yourself but thank you Kyuubi."

 **Naruto wait**

"Eh what's up?"

The Kyuubi smiled and let out a roar then, with much more force than before, smashed into the seal, causing it to visibly bend forward. His chakra shot out and immediately consumed Naruto who screamed in pain as the chakra wrapped around him. His eyes shot open and the chakra engulfed him. His mind went blank for an instant as all he felt was burning, he was faintly aware of a sound coming from his throat that sounded like the Kyuubi's demonic roar. His body moved on it's own at first and he was over the building landing on the floor. He saw the sound trio and saw the trail of carved earth. He knew who was at the end of that trail, seeing her in that shape caused him to feel rage even greater than when he saw Sasuke fall. He wanted to tear these guys apart limb by limb.

 **Kill them Naruto, destroy them, coat the streets with their blood. Do it. Look at what they've done to your friend. She's half dead. She's going to die Naruto. Because of them. Kill them. Kill them. KILL THEM NARUTO**

His tails shoot forward and impaled them, going through their stomachs, slowly cooking them from the inside out. He lifted his tails, raising the trio causing them to scream even louder in pain. Their throats sounded as if their throats were being ripped to shreds. **Relish that sound Naruto, take joy in that power you feel now, that you were able to make those who've done your friend harm suffer.**

He put them back down, withdrew his tail from their stomachs, then engulfed their heads. They screamed then his tails turned rapidly. When his tails let go of their heads the trio fell on their stomachs, however their faces were looking towards the sky. The Jinchuriki had turned their heads in a complete 180. **Hahaha yes good Naruto good.** He faintly heard an "oh Kami." But it seemed far away. All the boy could focus on was the pain and rage, that was until he felt another chakra almost as evil as his own. He looked up to the roof and saw purple swirls of chakra then his best friend jumped down, covered in glowing red markings that soon turned black but the swirls of chakra remained.

 **He's fallen to Orochimaru, end him he is a threat to you now.**

 **The boy is a demon Sasuke, use your new power and end him, he's not human look at what he did to the others. Kill him Sasuke.**

The boys looked at each other and ran toward one another with speeds impossible to keep track of and engaged in a ferocious taijutsu match, each boy lost to the demons in their heads

 **Elsewhere**

For once Shikamaru was not having a troublesome day. His team had found the other team that had the same tag, a group of genin from Kumo and team 10 easily defeated the Kumo-nin without breaking a sweat. The Lazy genius trapped one while Ino started a fight between the other two then Choji dropped all of them with his human Boulder. Now all that was left was to find the golem.

Well unfortunately for the Nara, having a non-troublesome day was not possible in their line of work. The oppressive chakra hit them like a truck, causing them all to immediately stop dead in their tracks.

"W-what is that?" Ino said, her voice wavering

"Don't you guys remember?" Both Ino and Chouji shook their heads no.

"Remember when Hokage-sama was gaining control of the Kyuubi's chakra? It felt like this, but not as oppressive and evil."

"It's obviously not Hokage-sama, oh Kami we need to go check it out Shikamaru, Naruto-kun is in trouble!"

"Yeah Shikamaru, this can't be good, something bad is happening over there." Choji said, worry etched into his features.

"Troublesome, fine let's go"

The trio took off much faster than before, the chakra becoming more and more vile with each step. They landed on the rooftop of one of the few remaining buildings, the sight shocking them. Below them Naruto and Sasuke were fighting fiercely, moving at incredible speeds and causing massive amounts of destructions.

"Lightning Gun!"

" **Wind Cannon!"**

A giant bolt of lightning shot from Sasuke's hand. Naruto put his hands in front of himself and thrust them forward, launching a large distortion in the air that ripped apart everything that it passed. The two techniques met and the Lightning bolt dissipated but the wall of wind continued, just barely missing Sasuke.

"Lightning Blast!" A continuous stream of lightning shot from the raven haired boy's hand, some bolts went stray, tearing through whatever they made contact with and turning the dirt ground to glass. Naruto took a large breath but instead of wind coming out, flames shot out continuously, the boy was breathing and inferno. The Justus collided and seemed to be evenly matched for a moment. Then Naruto's flames began to overpower the lightning.

"We need to stop this now they'll kill each other! Where's Sakura?" Ino yelled while frantically searching for her rival. It didn't take her long to locate the girl who was sitting against a building, attempting to pull herself up.

"Ino wait!" Shikamaru shouted but Ino still jumped down and ran towards the downed girl.

"H-hey forehead." Ino said with forced cheerfulness as tears began to form at the sight of her once best friend.

"Ino y-you guys need to get out of h-here." The girl said, each word causing her pain.

"We need to get you out of here first, then we'll focus on stopping those two, everything will be ok though." Ino said as she leaned down and wrapped an arm around Sakura as the pink haired girl put her arm around Ino's neck. Ino stood back up, bringing Sakura with her.

"Choji go watch over them, I'm going to stop Naruto, once I do I need you to try and stop Sasuke alright?"

"Alright be careful Shika."

The two boys took off in opposite directions. Choji landed next to the girls and Shikamaru landed behind Naruto. "Shadow possession jutsu!" His shadow stretched out and connected with Naruto's. At the same moment Choji arm and hand grew to large sizes and he wrapped his hand around Sasuke, leaving only the boys head popping out.

"Sakura is there any chakra suppression seals!? I can't hold him much longer!" As it was the boy was already beginning to stretch as Naruto struggled to move. **Let go of ME!** Naruto yelled.

"Oh crap he's strong I can't hold him much longer either, we need to knock them out!" Choji said. "ENOUGH LET GO OF ME!" And with that Sasuke broke Choji's hold on him, forcing the boy's hand opened. "Time to end this." The boy began performing seals, the purple chakra began swirling violently. Lightning began crackling around him.

"SASUKE DON'T" Sakura yelled. The jutsu didn't launch but lightning was still crackling around him. "Sasuke please stop-she didn't know where her strength was coming from but she began walking to the boy- This isn't you, we're your friends, please stop-by now she was just outside of the area where lightning was crackling, if she took another step she would surely be caught by a stray bolt-stop the jutsu Sasuke please-the jutsu deactivated, she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him, his back still facing him-please Sasuke enough this isn't you, fight this we're your friends" the seals receded and Sasuke felt all his strength leave him, both teens collapsed to their knees, Sakura still holding onto him, her tears were falling freely now. "S-Sakura, th-thank you." He said faintly.

"NO!" Shikamaru shouted as Naruto gave a short bark-like roar that sent a shockwave out, releasing the jutsu in the process. Naruto dashed at the two now on all fours Sakura closed her eyes and held Sasuke close, there was nothing anyone could do to stop him.

"NARUTO" the boy was inches away from hitting the two, his chakra claw outstretched, when he heard the voice, stopping him dead in his tracks. He slowly turned his head and saw a girl with mint green hair and orange eyes who had a similar red cloak surrounding her, with two wings coming out of her back. The girl jumped down and walked over to him. Everyone just watched in stunned silenced as she put her hand on him, and leaned in whispering in his ear. After a few moments their cloaks deactivated at the same time, Fuu caught Naruto before he hit the ground, he fell unconscious the second the cloak fell.

Shikamaru was the first to find his voice "W-who are you and how did you do that?"

"Fuu, me and Naruto met in Suna, and as for what I did, well you all saw what I am, we're the same and he isn't the first Jinchuriki to lose control and he won't be the last, I just told him what he needed to hear to fight back for control." Fuu sprouted wings once more but before she could take off with the boy Sakura yelled "Wait! Where are you going?"

"What, after all that I'm taking him away, I'd assume you all hate him now or are at least afraid of him" she said with a cold voice

This comment made everyone who was still conscious confused "why would any of us hate or be scared of him? You said he lost control yeah it was scary but that was the Kyuubi not Naruto, we don't blame him for that. And you just save all of our lives, in my book that makes us very good friends" Sakura said with a warm smile, with everyone else nodding in agreement

"He was telling the truth." Fuu said to herself in shock. "Thank you, we need to get out of here everyone in this city probably felt the Kyuubi chakra and there are plenty of teams that are just wiping out others to lessen the competition."

"Alright you can carry Naruto, Choji can you carry Sakura and me and Ino can carry Sasuke."

"Yeah I can carry her" Choji then got on his knees, allowing Sakura to get on his back. Shikamaru and Ino caught Sasuke before he hit the ground, they each had an arm around him and they put his arms around their necks. Fuu wrapped her arms under Naruto's arms and sprouted wings, since she had more control her chakra was radiating off in waves and didn't give off an oppressive feeling miles away.

They all ran until dusk fell and then made camp for the night. They were getting close to the center so the area was littered with Golems, forcing them to backtrack some so they wouldn't be near the creatures. That was not a fight they were willing to take, especially with two people unconscious again and the one person having no chakra and injured. Thankfully none of the injuries were serious.

"Why aren't you with your team and why did you come to Naruto?" Ino asked curiously.

"My team already finished, we had just finished off our golem when I felt the Kyuubi's chakra, my other team members continued forward but I flew towards the source as fast as I can go, I already knew it was the Kyuubi's chakra when I first felt it so I knew Naruto-kun was in trouble. As to why I came to him well he's my friend and I knew he needed help."

While Ino was very appreciative towards the girl who saved their lives, this did not mean that she didn't feel jealousy towards the girl when she called Naruto Naruto-kun.

"So how did you two meet again? Like exactly?"

"That's enough Ino, troublesome woman."

"Will you be quiet Shikamaru?"

"It's late, we need to start look outs while the others sleep, I'll go first then Choji then Ino so if I were you I'd get some rest." The lazy Nara said as he looked outside and saw jutsu being flung out in the distance, far away from where they were now.

 **Sorry to keep you all waiting, these past weeks have been hell with testing so just recently have had time to work on this story again. End of the year lots of test you all know how it is but schools almost out so hopefully I can get to updating either weekly or biweekly once summer starts. Thank you guys again and as always drop a comment or a like or a follow or ya know all three are pretty nice. Let's get this story more popular tell your friends your boyfriends and girlfriends, tell your families, hell tell your inner voices if need be let's just get more people to see this story. Haha thank you all and I'll be back with another update real soon.**


	8. Healing

**Disclaimer I don't own Naruto and never will, oh well that's a lot of responsibility anyways.**

 **Healing**

"Oooooh Kami what hit me"

"Naruto!"

"Shhhh not so loud please"

"Not so loud?! You idiot do you know how much you scared me?!"

"Looks like I'm going up now." When he finally opened his eyes the blonde saw that one he was being held off the ground and two, the person picking him up was Fuu. "What the, Fuu what are you doing here? Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, what the hell is going on what'd I miss?! Oh and nice to you Fuu." She put the blond down and as he looked around his eyes landed on Sasuke. "Sasuke what happened to you?" The raven haired boy had been woken up by all the noise, he had various burns and tears on his clothing but there was no damage to his person.

"I'm fine dobe"

He heard a noise and turned around "Sa-Sakura, Kami what happened? Are you ok?!" By now he was by the girls side who was just waking up as well.

She smiled weakly at her two teammates as Sasuke had moved over to her as well, concern etched on both the boy's faces. "Yeah I'm fine, nothing some more rest won't cure."

"How much longer do we have?" Naruto asked

"Three days, we're not too far away from the golems either, you three still need more rest so we'll stay alongside you guys for another day, by then we'll need to go" Shikamaru answered

"Thank you Shikamaru, but I'm good to go and in a few minutes they should be good as well, thank you guys for what you've done for us I really appreciate it. Go on ahead and finish this trial, we'll be close behind you all." Naruto said with a smile as he started to replenish Sakura's chakra reserves through his ring.

"Are you sure? We have no problem staying." Choji said

"No, Naruto's right, you guys should finish the exams already, he can replenish our chakra we'll be ok." Sasuke said

"Aw Naruto-kun you're always so quick to try and get rid of me, keep playing hard to get, it's working." Ino said with a wink at the blond. Surprisingly she felt killing intent from two sources instead of one. She looked at the mint haired girl and smiled then turned around and walked to her two teammates, putting some emphasis in the sway of her hips while she walked. "Common you lazy ninja, common Choji let's go finish this, I need a shower there better be one once we get to the center." And with that the trio took off, heading towards the sounds of battle.

 **Well well well Fuu I have to say that surprised me quite a bit I wasn't expecting you to let your emotions slip like that.**

 _Shush, I don't even know why that happened, it just bugged me when she called him Naruto-kun._

 **I wonder whatever that reason could be.**

 _What does that mean?_

 **Oh nothing, anyways i'm surprised you're actually talking to me**

 _Yeah well after seeing Naruto like that, you caused me to be alone for so long but you've never turned me against others or try to force control like that so maybe you're not that bad_

 **The Kyuubi has been through a lot, I'm not defending his actions but he wasn't always like that, humans turned him into what he is now, just as they've done to you and the other Jinchuriki, with the exception of Naruto, that boy is special Fuu, keep him close.**

 _Yeah he's a good friend, and without you I wouldn't have met him so thank you Nanabi_

 **Thank you Fuu, but don't think this by any means gives you more control over my powers, that's something you will still have to earn**

With that the giant bug ended their talk, just in time for Naruto to finish replenishing Sasuke's chakra.

"Alright Sakura how you feeling?"

"Much better now, thank you Naruto, Sasuke-kun are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine now, are we all ready to go?"

"I'm the leader here teme." The boys glared daggers at each other.

"Alright that can wait Naruto-kun, well I don't have anywhere to be so I'll help you guys out if you need me too, otherwise I'll just tag along?" She asked the group.

"Yeah of course, thank you Fuu, uhh not that I'm not happy that you are but why're you here?" Naruto asked

"I felt your chakra when the Kyuubi was released, we had just beaten the golem and I told my team to go on ahead and that I'd catch up later and just flew as fast as I could, how powerful the chakra was, well I wasn't worried about passing, I've never felt bijuu chakra that powerful before, even Nanabi when I go four tails isn't that bad. I knew you were in trouble and I needed to help that's all that mattered."

"How did you stop me? I was-I was gone. The Kyuubi had so much control over me I didn't know what I was doing." He said, his voice slipping into a whisper by the time he finished talking.

She walked over to him and put her hand on the blondes arm. "Hey it's ok, it wasn't your fault, and I just told you what I figured you needed to hear. What do you remember?"

"I...I was in the seal and talking to the Kyuubi...uhm...he was talking about the seal and what it did...THAT'S HOW he took control of me. He was slamming into the seal and pushing his chakra into me to overpower Orochimaru's and once the seal popped he sent a last burst."

During their exchange Sasuke began rubbing his neck and a pained look flashed across his face.

"Sasuke-kun what's wrong?" Sakura asked, choosing to ignore the exchange between Naruto and Fuu.

"Nothing I'm fine, come on let's go we're wasting time."

"Sasuke, try to mold chakra for an attack." Naruto said, Sasuke's interruption snapping him back to reality.

"What why?"

"Just do it, I need to confirm a suspicion."

The Raven haired boy looked at the blond curiously, then decided to do what he was asked. Pain shot through him, originating from the seal. "ARGH, what..the..hell." He said, panting between each word.

"Before the Kyuubi took control he told me what the seal does, it forces Orochimaru's chakra into you with use, letting him worp your mind until you become a slave to him. It looks like it can also suppress your chakra to force you to rely on the seal, you're going to have to use just taijutsu until Tousan can fix that seal."

"Damn it that bastard, then let's hurry I don't like being so handicapped, I can't even use my sword to its full potential."

"Then we better beat this golem fast, let's go."

The group took off, thankfully Sasuke's speed was just from training and not from chakra amplifying it.

They had to stop after a few hours to eat, a stream wasn't too far from them and there was plenty of fruit growing on the trees. By the time they finished their meal it was close to noon, the golems were somewhat close to the center area and they were about two hours out so, Kami forbidden anything else should occur, they would be able to get to the center by either nightfall or at dawn, depending on if they wanted to risk traveling to the converging point for all teams at night. They ran until they were a hundred yards away from the nearest golem, landing on a very tall building. From there they could see that all the buildings had numbers floating above them.

"Well that makes it easier, do you guys see nine anywhere?"

"Yeah there in the distance, to the left looks about 10 minutes out." Sakura said and sure enough there was a large nine in the sky.

This was the first time they had actually seen the golems, and well they were intimidating. The creature's entire body was made of rock, with each limb covered in cracks. In between these cracks were different elements, the right arm had fire and the left had wind. The right leg had water and with the left holding lightning. It's head was skull like and was suspended slight above the body and was surrounded by each element.

"Well that'll be fun to fight, Sasuke maybe you should stay out, you can only use taijutsu and your sword, we're going to need some large scale jutsu to beat this thing."

"Hn" was all he said, while he didn't want to admit it the boy knew that Naruto was right, fighting something like that with just a sword would not end up well, especially not being able to perform a simple substitution.

"Well if that's the case then I'm definitely helping you guys out with this, I know from first hand experience that these things don't go down easily. Let's go, we're killing daylight."

From here on out all of the buildings were, at the smallest six stories high, and all were extremely large, giving the roofs plenty of space to battle. They all jumped building to building, staying away from ones with Golems on them. After a few minutes they landed on their building, Sasuke stayed at the back while the trio walked forward, the Golem not making a move.

"Sakura you ok to fight this thing?"

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks Naruto."

"Alright Fuu how do we take this thing down?"

"Well we took it down really easily actually, one of my teammates distracted it, the other one with the red and green eye has tendrils that come from him and while the golem was distracted he was able to wrap them around it and while the golem was immobile I flew at his and smashed through its chest. You guys wouldn't happen to have a jutsu that can create tendrils or anything like that right?"

"Unfortunately no, alright well we need a game plan, this thing has all five chakra natures so it's safe to assume it can combine them to create enhanced attacks like mine and Sasuke's so we'll have to watch for that. Alright I'm going to create a shadow clone, we'll get its attention, Fuu, you and Sakura fly around it and your combined strength will go right through it, this thing is dangerous though so please try to be fast i'd rather not test how long me and my clones can last keeping the damn thing distracted."

"Uhm how's Sakura going to deal with Bijuu chakra? That's kinda ya know super toxic for anyone other than a Jinchuriki."

"Don't worry about me Fuu, I have a jutsu that'll protect me but we need to be fast."

"Alright if you say so"

"Alright then we're all good so Shadow clone jutsu!" Another clone of the blonde appeared and unsheathed his sword. "Fuuton: Crescent Slash!" Two curved blades of wind shit forth and smashed into the golem, creating deep slashes in its back. With a roar the creature turned around and looked down at the two blondes that had just injured it. With another roar it thrust its arms forwards, wind coming from its left arm and fire from its right. The two combined and a speeding inferno shot towards Naruto, the flames hot enough to melt steel.

"SHIT, FUUTON COMPRESSION JUMP!" Both the Naruto's launched high into the air then at their peak the main copy put his feet on top of the clones shoulders and performed the jutsu again. "Fuu catch me!" The mint haired girl was already on her way towards the blonde and caught him under his arms.

While the main body was caught, preventing him from falling into the inferno, the clone was launched down, right towards the golem. Seconds before he hit the clone shouted "RASENGAN!" The ball of chakra smashed into the golem's back, raising a cloud of dirt all around the area.

"Did that do it?" Fuu asked, hovering in the air with Naruto.

"I can't see with all this stupid du-MOVE!" A torrent of lightning infused water came rushing up towards them, Fuu just dodging the attack, weaving around it and the subsequent electrified torrents that followed, each one coming dangerously close to the pair. Finally the pair were able to land next to Sakura, but the Golem was continuing its onslaught, forcing the trio to run and attempt to create a new battle plan.

"Alright I have an idea, Naruto launch a fireball at it once I give the signal." Fuu said

"Alright I hope this works, this thing looks like it's getting pissed off."

"Shimmering Scales Jutsu!" A golden cloud filled with tiny green scales shot out of the girls mouth and went all around the Golem. The technique had the desired effects and the golem seemed blinded as it was stumbling around and laughing attacks wildly. "Scale Powder Jutsu!" The mint haired girl sent out another cloud of scales but this one was much darker in color, with the cloud being grey, and the scales being red. The cloud surrounded the creature and Fuu looked over at Naruto who began performing the necessary hand seals.

She activated her bijuu cloak again and grabbed Sakura just as the girl activated earth spear. Just as she picked the pinkete up Naruto finished his seals and with a shout said "Katon: Fireball Jutsu!" The giant inferno met the cloud of scales in a powerful explosion, destroying a chunk of the building and sending debris everywhere. Naruto then began building a large amount of chakra in his chest before performing seals again. He then slammed on his stomach "Fuuton: drilling air bullet!" The attack was much larger than it was before, almost the same size as the golem. It hit the cloud of dust, blowing everything away as the attack collided with the creature, sending it to the ground below.

Fuu flew them under the descending creature and threw Sakura up towards it then followed after her. Naruto ran and jumped off the building, a rasengan in hand. The trio hit the giant at the same time, Naruto sending the vortex of chakra into the creature's head and the girls slamming into its back. The was a loud crack like sound and then the creature's body gave and the girls flew out from its stomach as its head was turned to dust. The trio landed back on the ground and smiled at each other. Sakura had gotten the flag, that looked more like a banner, bright red in color with the kanji for 9 on it, and handed it over to Naruto who sealed it away in scroll.

"Thank you Fuu, this would have been much harder with just Sakura and me."

"Yeah thank you Fuu, I really appreciate it." Sakura said with a genuine smile to the girl.

"Ye-yeah no problem Sakura." It would be a bit before she'd get used to people actually being nice to her. "And yeah to you...Fox face." She said with a devious grin to her first friend.

"Bug eyes."

"Fox face"

"Bug eyes!"

"Whisker cheeks!"

"Hey now don't talk about the whiskers, I happen to like them"

"Your favorite color is orange, you have bright blond hair, and you have huge, incredibly noticeable whiskers marks on your face, you are the least stealthiest Shinobi possible."

"Says the girl with mint hair, completely orange eyes, who wears stark white clothing with a big ass bright red cylinder strapped to her back."

With each insult and comeback the two had edged closer and closer to each other until their noses were almost touching as they continued their verbal spar.

While Sakura had decided to focus most of her attention on Sasuke she did harbor some

Feelings for Naruto as well, so watching the exchange between the two had made it rather hard for her to not step in between the two and grab onto Naruto. That being said she did decide to clear her throat rather loudly, bringing the two back to reality.

"Ah right sorry about that Sakura." Naruto said with a sheepish grin

"No problem Naruto-KUN, anyways we should get going don't you think?" She said, her gaze focused on Fuu. _Sorry I do like you but you have another thing coming if you think you're getting him that easy, especially since I've been trying for years now_.

"Ah yeah, let's go grab teme and head to the center, I'm done with this place, I can't wait till we get back home, Fuu-chan thank you again."

"No problem Naruto-kun, is it alright if I still stay with you guys on the way there?" She asked rather timidly.

"Yeah of course! You didn't even have to ask, I was expecting that you'd come with us." Naruto said with a wide smile.

The girl blushed and then followed after the pair as they made their way to the last member of their team.

"Took you guys long enough, I'm surprised you're ok dobe I would've thought for sure that you'd have gotten hurt." Sasuke said with a smirk as he rubbed his hand over the seal.

"Teme as useless as always." Was Naruto's only response.

The group of four then began their thankfully uneventful journey to the largest building in the city. It was a large rounded building made out of stone. It was grey in color but there were different symbols for each village on it that were all different colors. They saw the symbol for the hidden leaf in a bright red color, looking very inviting to the trio in front of them. They landed on a building right next to their destination, one more jump and they'd be free and will have passed the second stage. Naruto pulled out the scroll and handed it to Sakura. "You two go on ahead I'll be right behind you."

"Wh-what? No I don't think that's a good idea Naruto-kun we should all finish at the same time, stop being silly let's go."

"No really it's fine Sakura I'll be right behind you guys."

"Common Sakura dobe can catch up." Sasuke grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her with him down to the ground infront of the entrance.

 _Damn it no! Who knows what those two will do by themselves? Well at least it's just me and Sasuke-kun now._ "So Sasuke-kun just admit you wanted all by myself didn't you?" She said with a smile and edged close to the Raven haired boy _Damn you Naruto you really owe me this time._

"I just wanted to say thank you Fuu-chan, if it weren't for you well, I don't want to think about what the Kyuubi would've had me do. And it's thanks to you that we passed this trial so thank you so much, I'm in your debt."

"Please, don't be dumb Naruto, you don't owe me anything, I just did what friends do, I wanted to help you out so I did, I should be thanking you actually, because of you I have a friend. I won't ever have to be lonely and by myself again."

"Uhm can I-can I give you like a hug or something?" The blonde asked while scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face

"Oh uhm Ye-yeah that'd be okay" the two embraced in a hug that lasted for a few seconds. Both pulled away, their faces tinged red.

"Be careful ok? You still have to go around this place to find your entrance."

"I can take care of myself Naruto-kun, but thank you and you too, goodbye for now." She activated her cloak then took off flying at high speeds

 **Your bonds make you weak Naruto, you will never reach your strength with others around. You can only ever rely on me and yourself for power, I tried to help you realize this but you continue to defy me.**

 _ **Shut the hell up you damned fox.**_

He heard a deep laughter. Naruto ended their rather short talk, he couldn't speak with the creature, he hated demon more now than he ever did before and would have liked nothing more than to get rid of the demon and not harbor it any more but alas this wouldn't be possible without his own death.

He walked into the leaf's entrance and was greeted by his father's embrace.

"Kami Naruto-kun you're okay. Orochimaru will pay."

"I'm fine tousan, Bunta helped a lot thanks to him we were able to get out safely. Did you look at Sasuke's neck?"

"Yes Jiraiya is already preparing a few seals to suppress it until we can get it off of him, but I need to be here now so I don't have the time to get my supplies and study it more. Once this trial is over though all of us will be teleporting back home where I want a full report of what happened and I can study the seal properly. I felt the Kyuubi's chakra, I can tighten the seal some more if you'd like?"

"Yeah definitely, I can feel his influence a lot stronger than before."

Minato nodded then put his fingers on Naruto's stomach, right where the seal was, and sharply turned his hand to the right. Naruto felt his entire body tighten then relax, he no longer felt the constant twinge of annoyance now and his eyes turned back to the deep blue that they were before as they had a slight red tinge to them after the Kyuubi had taken control of him. "Thank you tousan, where'd Sasuke and Sakura go?"

"They went to their rooms,I believe they said they're going to get some rest, Sasuke will need it applying the suppression seals will take a toll on him. You'll find them at the third level and to the left they'll be the first ones, you guys have a few days to rest and relax so I advise you to do just that, you'll need your strength for what's coming next."

Naruto nodded then began the long journey upstairs to his room. He opened and took in his surroundings. The room was bare with the exception of a large bed. He stepped in and looked to his left to see a door. Upon stepping inside of the other room he saw that it was the restroom. The shower was large and had a bath next to it. _Man they are serious about us relaxing and taking it easy while we are here. Ah a shower sounds perfect right now._

 **Sasuke's room**

The Raven haired boy was woken up by a knocking at his door. _Please don't be Sakura._ "Who is it?"

Much to his surprise though instead of hearing his teammate's voice he heard a sagely and imposing one. "Sasuke open up."

He rolled out of bed, still dressed in his ninja attire, and opened the door to see Jiraiya standing there. The sage bore a look of sorrow as he looked down at the young ninja _another thing that could have been avoided if I had been stronger_ "The seals are ready, let's get that thing suppressed."

Sasuke nodded and followed after Jiraiya down into a sublevel of the building. After walking through several dimly lit hallways they reached a large wooden door that had green light pouring from the edges. Jiraiya put his hand on the door and let it linger for a second before pushing it open with little force. Stepping inside he saw a large round sealing array on the floor which was responsible for the light.

"This level was built for any emergency surgeries that might need to take place, we were hoping it wouldn't see use but here we are now. Sit in the center, remove your shirt, and brace yourself, this won't be pleasant. Fixing something is always harder than damaging it."

 _Is that what I am now, damaged by that bastard_

The boy went to the center and sat down after removing his shirt. He took a glance at the seal and saw that his veins around it had a sickly purple color to them and his skin was a darker color around it, resembling a large bruise.

"Oh yeah this is going to hurt, try not to pass out though, I need your chakra fully flowing for this to properly work." Jiraiya stepped behind the boy and performed a long chain of hand seals before placing his hands right on the seal. "Sealing of demonic presence!" The words had just left his mouth before pain racked through Sasuke's entire being, originating from the seal. His body burned and it felt like his entire chakra network was being torn to shreds. Pained shouts escaped his body and as what was only a few seconds felt like hours. Finally he felt the pain lessen as Jiraiya lifted his hands. A layer of sweat coated the boy and he was a few shades lighter than before the sealing started.

"You ok kid?"

"Y-yeah I'm...fine." He said, trying to catch his breath after the ordeal. He looked at the seal and saw that now there was a solid line surrounding it that radiated from the tips of the tomoe, which looked elongated, like the tomoe themselves had been used to create the ring. The dark color of the three tomoe looked almost grey now, with the ring the same jet black of ink. His veins were no longer visible and the area wasn't darker as well.

"Alright the seal sucked away all of his chakra from your body and suppressed his overall presence in you, so after some rest you can use your chakra again, but your networks were slightly damaged as he forced his way into them so take it easy until we can get Tsunade to check you out, also don't use all your chakra. The seal suppressed the curse, it didn't get rid of it completely so if you use all of your chakra the seal will have a chance to reactivate, we won't be able to get it off of you until we get back to Konoha. Got all of that?"

"Yeah take it easy and don't use all my chakra."

"Perfect, alright get dressed let's head back up, I'm assuming you could use some sleep?"

Sasuke nodded and pulled his shirt back on before following Jiraiya through the hallways back to the ground level.

 **Sakura's room**

"Thank you nurse." The pinkette said with a smile as the medic-nin left her room. Even after insisting that she was okay, Minato had sent a medic-nin to her room to patch the girl up. No major damage was done, just some cuts and bruises that the medic quickly healed. "Time for a nice long shower." She said to herself as she made her way to the restroom and turned on the shower.

 _I wonder what Naruto-kun is doing right now_ she mused as she finished drying off, wrapping her towel around herself, feeling refreshed after her shower. _Hm he's probably either sleeping or with Fuu._ She thought with slight disdain. It wasn't that she disliked the girl, quite the contrary actually, she considered her an ally and a friend after all that the mint haired girl had done for them, what she minded was how fast she seemed to have gotten to Naruto. _Hmm maybe I'll have a better chance if I just focus on Sasuke, he's warmed up to me a lot since we've became a team...yeah after some more time he'll be mine for sure._ She stepped out of the restroom to see two stacks of clothing on her bed, casual and sleepwear. Marked on the ground next to the door was the word dirty. She grabbed her old clothing and dropped them on the word and with a puff they were gone. "Oh I love seals." After thinking more about Sasuke she quickly got dressed and headed out to Sasuke's room.

The boy had barely gotten dressed after taking a shower when he heard knocking yet again at his door. _Damn it_

"Sasuke-kun"

He walked over and opened the door to see Sakura standing there with a smile. "What?"

"Oh stop being so grumpy Sasuke-kun, it's ok you can tell me you're happy that I'm here Naruto isn't around." She said in a mock whisper with a wide smile

He rolled his eyes and with a sigh said "you're lucky I'm hungry, did you try and get the Dobe already?"

"Yeah but he didn't answer, he's probably not in his room."

Sasuke again sighed before he was dragged by Sakura to the dinning area. Night had just fallen and all of the other ninja that had already passed were gathered around in the dining area that had several large tables. After some quick scouting they found Naruto, who was sitting next to Fuu. Both were laughing and talking as they ate. Sakura immediately started heading over there but Sasuke grabbed her arm and, for a change, dragged her to where the other Konoha shinobi were, save for Kabuto's team. _You owe me so much dobe_

"Heh look who finally showed up." Kiba said with a smile as Sasuke and Sakura sat down, the kunoichi grumbling as she sat.

"I'm surprised you three passed at all." Neji said with a smirk.

Sasuke glared at him and was about to say something but tenten beat him to it "Neji enough, if you're going to start problems wit everyone then we can just sit somewhere else." The pale eyed boy glanced at Hinata before sitting up and walking away, his food untouched.

"I'm sorry about him." Tenten said.

Kiba cleared his throat loudly, breaking the tension "anyways what took you guys so long and where's Naruto?"

"We ran into some complications" Sasuke said glancing at Shikamaru, giving a subtle nod, a thanks for not saying anything.

"And Naruto is over there." Sakura said with a nod in the direction, slight annoyance in her voice.

"Damn would you check out the babe he's with sheesh lucky bastard." Kiba said.

At this all the males present face palmed as Ino and Sakura glared at the boy, killing intent radiating off of the girls.

"Kiba shut up or you're going to experience a different level of pain." Ino said

"Troublesome"

"What was that Shikamaru?!" Both girls yelled in unison

The lazy boy just sighed and went back to eating

Meanwhile at the other side of the room Naruto and Fuu were busy talking about their lives and experiences that they had, with many of Naruto's causing the girl to laugh. A lull in the conversations left them both smiling at each other. _This is great, this is_ an image of Haku appeared in the boy's mind. His smile faltered slightly as he felt a small pang.

"Everything ok Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah everything's fine" the boy said, Haku still on his mind. _Why am I thinking about her now_

"Hey fox face you sure you're ok?" She asked with a smile.

"Yes bug eyes I'm fine, just thinking."

"Woah that's dangerous." She said with a grin as his head immediately snapped towards her, a slight glare on his face.

"Keep it up Fuu keep it up"

"Ha do your worse."

He smiled and picked up a stick of Dango. Right before he put on of the orbs in his mouth he redirected his arm and put the food on her face.

"Oops I missed."

And incredulous look grew on her face "oh you're going to get it now." He immediately took off from his position right next to her in a mad dash out of the room. Her wings had sprouted and she chased after him, the two laughing as they ran. He rounded a corner and slammed into something solid. "Ow" Fuu quickly followed after him but stopped in her tracks when she saw just what Naruto had crashed into.

"Yo-you're Master Jiraiya of the Sannin!"

"Yes it is I the great toad sage of mount." He said in while he entered a Kabuki pose. By this point Naruto had already gathered his bearings.

"Oh please, you better enjoy this now Ero-sennin, before she learns how you really are."

At this Jiraiya face faulted.

"NARUTO! How can you just talk to one of the most famous ninja of all time like that?! Show some respect!"

"Ha! He's my godfather, and believe me he's also the biggest percent you'll ever meet."

"Shut up Gaki, now then why don't you introduce to me your beautiful girlfriend, I had no idea you had already gained a taste for women." He said with a grin

"It's not like that, damn pervert, we're just friends, anyways Fuu this is Jiraiya, Jiraiya this is my friend Fuu."

"Well well I see there's hope with you yet Gaki, and it's a pleasure to meet you Fuu."

The entire exchange had led the girl to blush a deep red hue at the multiple mentions of being Naruto's girlfriend.

 **That's what you want isn't it?"**

 _What are you talking about Nanabi? We're just friends nothing more._

 **Hm if you say so Fuu**

"So you're the Taki Jinchuriki huh."

"Wh-what?! How did you know that?"

"Easy, you, Naruto, and Minato all get the same look when you talk to your bijuu, I don't think I've ever seen the same look on someone who isn't a Jinchuriki. Ah you make me want to shed a tear Naruto, not only is your girlfriend extremely beautiful but powerful as well. Yes you're taking right after me." He said in an overly dramatic voice

"Don't you have to be somewhere Ero-sennin? Like anywhere else?"

"Hmm as a matter of fact I don't." He said with a loud and boisterous laugh. "But I'll let you and your "friend" get back to your little chase, I can't wait to see what happens when she catches you." He said as he pulled a small notebook and pencil out from a pocket.

Naruto rolled his eyes "common Fuu, let's go walk around for a bit."

"Coming, it was a pleasure to meet you Jiraiya-sama"

"No the pleasure's all mine."

With that the two walked away from the perverted ninja as he wrote furiously in his notebook.

"I can't believe Jiraiya of the Sannin is your godfather."

"Listen he's a giant pervert, you forget about the whole sannin thing really fast when you see how he actually is."

"Still, anyways where're we going?"

"I'm not sure, just wandering about, this place is huge."

"Yeah I know, it's nice, we get a few days of rest and we can spend time with each other."

"Yeah it's nice, I enjoy spending time with you Fuu-chan." He said with a smile as he looked at her. They walked in silence again, Haku appearing in the boy's head yet again. _Why am I thinking about her I mean Fuu's great but she's just a friend, and Haku, well she'll always just be a friend. Damn it I can't even enjoy my time here because I can't get her off my mind, but why_

"You're so lucky we ran into him otherwise you would have been so dead." She said with a smile, pulling the blonde from his thoughts.

"Pfft yeah right what would you have done?"

"Fly you into the kitchen and drop you into all the food there."

"Ha you wouldn't have caught me, my dad's the yellow flash you really think you would have caught me?"

"Well for the yellow flash's son you fall short in the speed department don't you?"

He sweat dropped at this and looked at her sadly "that's not nice." He said with exaggerated sadness.

"Hah not nice, you're one to talk about not nice, fox face."

"Bug eyes."

The two yet again ended up with their noses almost touching when they heard giggling.

"Son of a Ero-sennin really?"

With a shimmer Jiraiya appeared leaning against the wall with his notepad out. "This is great common you two keep going." He said with a smile

"You and your stupid smut."

"THEY ARE NOT SMUT THEY ARE WORKS OF FINE LITERATURE YOU BRAT!"

"Works of porn literature"

"Uhm what are you two talking about? And why are you taking notes Jiraiya-sama?"

"He's taking notes for his books, the icha-icha series."

"Icha-Icha...Wait those little orange books that I always see men reading? He's the author of those? They're super popular what're they about?"

"Well my dear they are about gutsy ninja, romance, heartbreak, battles, they are the greatest work of literature ever!"

"Oh please they're porn Fuu, they're smut filled stories."

"They are not porn!"

"Wait so you're telling me that the Jiraiya writes porn books?"

"Exactly"

"Wow you really are a pervert."

"Damn it gaki."

"I told you Fuu, anyways it's getting late, we should start heading to our rooms, I'll walk you to yours."

"Yeah I'm getting tired, well I guess it was nice meeting you Jiraiya-sama."

"And you as well, make sure to keep the Gaki in check I wouldn't want him losing such a beautiful woman such as yourself."

"Th-thank you."

"Well this was nice, after everything that happened sheesh today alone this break was needed." Naruto said

"Yeah we all went through a lot in that city, well one last trial to go, but until then we have a few days of rest. Well this is my room, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah of course, first thing in the morning, goodnight Fuu-chan"

"Goodnight Naruto-kun"

 _I think I'm falling for her_

 **So sorry about the late update, school was hectic the last few weeks with finals so wasn't able to work on this much during then. Well schools over now so hopefully I can get these out a lot sooner and this chapter just took awhile to write. In all honesty I'm not too happy with this chapter but I also can't think of what else to do with it, oh well I guess. Well thank you guys as always and as always drop a review a follow and a favorite if you can. Oh and one more thing that I need some help on, it won't be for awhile but I'm having trouble deciding if I want to give Fuu a summon and\or sage mode as well, let me know what you guys think. I'll hopefully be back a lot sooner.**


	9. Combat

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and PROBABLY never will, the ball is in your court Kishi, do the right thing.**

 **Combat**

 **Would all shinobi please head to the arena**

"GAH what the hell!" Naruto quickly shot up, his dream of eating a pools worth of ramen interrupted by the extremely loud sound of his father's voice.

 **-ad to the arena**

"Where the hell is that even coming from there's no seals anywhere in this room?" The blonde wondered as he looked around his room.

 **-Please head to the arena**

 _Well this is it then I better get dressed, the third trial finally_

 **Hopefully you will see the truth this trial boy, you need my power to survive.**

The blonde didn't respond to the fox, he still hadn't talked to the demon the past few days, it'd be awhile, if ever, before he would speak to the fox.

He quickly got dressed and stepped outside his room to see a completely empty hallway. _Sheesh how long was that message going on for, oops looks like I over slept quite a bit._ He quickly ran to the arena to see all the remaining shinobi in lines by their teams and most of their sensei's standing up in the viewing area.

"Well now that everyone is here we can begin" Minato said with a smirk as the entire group turned to look at Naruto.

"Heh sorry." He quickly got in line behind Sasuke.

"Dobe"

"Shut it teme, you and Sakura could've woken me up, jerks."

"Uhm Naruto we tried, we knocked for close to five minutes." Sakura said

"Oh, sorry, heavy sleeper."

"Some ninja you are dobe."

Before Naruto could rebuttal he realized that the entire arena was silent. He looked forward and again saw his father staring at him.

"As I was saying as of today the second trial is officially over." Loud cheering began "HOWEVER" the shouts of joy ended instantly "however we have an unexpected number of shinobi who passed the second round so we must have a preliminary round, you all will partake in one fight and the winner of that fight will move on to the final round which will be a tournament style fight. This third round is in front of a massive audience consisting of civilians, lords, and Daimyo's. It is to showcase a villages strength and with so many people we can not take so much of their time, that is why these preliminaries are necessary. There is a scoreboard behind me that will display opponents names for the preliminaries, now let them begin" As he finished his sentence names began flashing through the board, faster than they could track, before stopping on **Naruto Namikaze VS Kankuro no Sabaku**

"Hell yeah first fight!" Naruto shouted with glee

"Kankuro be careful, he's the Hokage's son don't underestimate him." Temari whispered to her brother

"Alright we have our first round, everyone else clear out to the stands above, I will let our proctor, the Raikage A, explain the rules.

"Alright everyone listen up, the fights have no rules, however if someone is unable to continue fighting I will intervene there is no need for someone to die if it is completely preventable, failure to stop attacking once I call the round will result in disqualification, and well" lighting arced over one arm "I might misjudge the strength I use to stop the opponent so heh you better stop once I say so. Are our fighters ready?"

Naruto and Kankuro noded

"Alright then let the first round begin!"

The two shinobi dashed to opposite sides of the room and slowly walked around it, staring at each other.

 _Alright I have no idea what this guy's skills are so let's see how good his reflexes are_ to start with. The blonde took off in a dash, still continuing his previous course, forcing Kankuro to do the same. Naruto reached into his pouch and drew two kunai and quickly threw them at the other boy who easily weaved around them.

 _Screw this waiting game one cut is all I need and this punk is down_ Kankuro stopped in his tracks and turned around and took of with even more speed towards Naruto now. Naruto quickly drew his blade and sent chakra through it, easily making up for the extra reach that Taller boy had. Kankuro slashed at Naruto who easily blocked the attack, by slicing right through the kunai, forcing the makeup wearing boy to jump back to avoid receiving a cut as well.

Naruto dashed at his opponent, forcing him on the defense as the blonde slashed quick and fast, not needing to put that much strength into each swing as the blade could easily cut flesh with little effort. _The way this guy has dodged a few of my attacks, some of those movements weren't human like, and what shinobi rushes into combat with no worry to injury. That thing he has on his back has hair, Suna is famous for two things, it's wind users and its puppeteers. That's it! I'm fighting this guy's puppet, now let's see where are the chakra strings_

Naruto began aiming his attacks to his opponents limbs rather than its body, he was hoping that he would force the puppet to move in a way that would show its chakra strings so that he could cut through them and end this fight, he didn't want to reveal too much of his abilities since there would be more fights with these people in the future.

Finally he got lucky as a slash forced the puppet to move its arm high over its head, showing a very thin light blue thread of chakra. Right as he aimed at it though "Kankuro" flew into the air as the bandages around the real boy shredded to pieces, revealing Kankuro with ten strings coming from his fingertips as he moved his hands and arms in different, complex motions.

"Well you're smarter than you look, I wouldn't have thought that you'd figure out it was a puppet and not me"

"Underestimating your opponent has caused the deaths of many shinobi, you make up wearing freak"

"IT'S NOT MAKEUP IT'S-" he didn't get to finish his sentence though since Naruto used the boys distracted state to rush forward. He extended the length of his blade even farther and swung, aiming to slash across the his opponents chest. However the puppet proved faster than Naruto and intercepted the attack, resulting in Naruto slicing right through its torso, causing the puppet to fall into two separate pieces.

"You should give up now, I just destroyed your puppet"

"Heh that's what you think you little punk" Kankuro began to move his hands and fingers faster than before, resulting in the arms and legs, and head of the puppet detaching and long, purple tinted blades unfolded from the connecting joints of the limbs, giving Kankuro six deadly blades. The head hovered in front of Kankuro and the jaw opened, revealing a tube that began shooting out senbon as the limbs all took off at Naruto.

"One scratch is all it'll take to kill you kid"

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Six copies of the blond appeared and each engaged the limbs in a fierce battle of kenjutsu, giving the main Naruto some room to breath as he just had to worry about the senbon being shot at him which he easily deflected with his blade. "Alright this was fun now it's time to finish it, Fuuton: Severing tornado!" The blond yelled as he jumped and spun around, landing with his sword outstretched, pointing right at Kankuro. As he landed a small tornado formed and began racing towards the boy at fast speeds, growing larger and larger as it went towards him.

"Shit shit shIT!" The cyclone tore through the ground and grew to be too large and strong for Kankuro to dodge, something the boy quickly found out as he began losing traction in his mad dash. The pull of the jutsu was too much, causing the boy to fall on his face and drag him towards it.

"FUCK NO NO NO NO NO!" He shouted as the lower half of his torso began to rise up, his hands desperately grabbing at the smooth floor, trying to get a hand hold. Soon his whole body lifted up and he was sucked into the vortex.

Naruto let the boy go through a few rotations before suddenly ending the jutsu, causing Kankuro to be launched outwards into a wall, his body sending spiderweb cracks as he hit it. He landed with a thud on the ground, out cold.

"Winner Naruto Namikaze" A shouted as the medics came running in, placing the boy on a stretcher before carrying him out."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted with joy as he ran up the stairs to his friends, all who congratulated him with the exception of Sasuke.

Kakashi walked over to his students and ruffled Naruto's hair "Good job Naruto, Sasuke Sakura I expect both of you to pass as well understood?"

The two genin nodded, determination to pass for themselves and their sensei setting in.

"Alright quiet down! The next round will be" the screen ran through the names again before landing on **Ino Yamanaka VS Tenten**

"Alright will both combatants come down to the arena!"

"Ha! This'll be easy I'll take you down easy and show Sasuke-kun how badass I am" Ino shouted with a grin

"Whew I have to say that I was kind of worried when I saw I'd be fighting a Yamanaka but now, it's obvious that you're one of those kunoichi's that are more worried about your looks than your appearance, you give us all a bad name"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME YOU BITCH PROCTOR START THE MATCH SO I CAN KICK HER ASS"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO YOU DAMN BRAT! NOW BEGIN THE MATCH!"

A mere few moments passed before A's gruff and bark like laugh could be heard before he announced "Winner Tenten"

"What the hell just happened? I blinked and it was over" Naruto said in shock

"Oh Ino, Tenten summoned a staff, swept her legs, slammed the staff into her stomach, and slammed it down on her head" Sakura said with a hint of sadness in her voice _Would I have been that bad if it weren't for Naruto and Sasuke?_

"Aw man I was hoping for more of a cat fight." Kiba said in mock sadness

"Kiba, please stop talking" Sakura said in a sickly sweet voice with a smile to match

"Ahaha yeah s-sure thing S-Sakura" he said gulping

The screen landed again on two names **Misumi Tsurugi VS Ahiko**

A wasn't even able to call the contestants forward as the second the screen showed their names they were on the floor, in their fight in stances.

"Eager little brats eh? Alright begin"

 _That boys eye, Shibuki you didn't_ Minato thought to himself in anger

Ahiko dashed away but to his surprise the other boy dashed towards him and threw a punch. _What the hell, this guy's nowhere near me and I don't feel any chakra so he's not using a jutsu._ Just as he finished his thought, Misumi's arm stretched to incredibly lengths and his hand wrapped around the other boys throat. His fingers then started to wrap around several times as well.

"This is my jutsu, I can dislocate my joint and my tissue is softer, I can stretch and bend to incredible lengths my body is like rubber" he began tightening his grip, taking joy in the other boys gasp "this was so much can easier than I thought it'd be ha"

Ahiko began clawing at the rubber boys hand, gasping for air his lungs needed. After a few more attempts his eyelids began to drop and his arms did as well and his body went limp.

"Proctor call the match before I crush his throat"

Right as the words left his mouth Ahiko stood on his own again and black tendrils shot from his fingertips and wrapped around Misumi's arm and began tightening.

"And here I was thinking I was the only freak here, only problem is I'm a lot stronger than you are" the same black chords were spilling from his mouth as he talked, waving and moving in all directions. The tendrils from his hands began wrapping around the other boys neck, forcing him to extend it more and more. "I wonder what the limit is before your body can't stretch any more and everything just rips apart"

"W-what are you?" Misumi asked, fear laced in his voice as his neck was forcibly stretched more and more, the tendrils wrapped around his whole body at this point, rendering him immobile.

"My village has a powerful kinjutsu, but you see it didn't fully take with me, hence the scaring and my eye, so I only received some of the benefits not all of them. These tendrils line the inside of my body, if the ritual were to have worked, everything with the exception of my organs would be replaced by them. But that's why you didn't choke me, I can breathe from them. But enough talking, time to finish this" The tendrils began pushing farther and farther up, forcibly extending the boy's neck more and more.

"NO NO N-" his voice stopped abruptly as sickening crack ranged out. "Well we found out his limit." The boy said with a smile as his tendrils retracted back into his body while he walked back to the viewing arena.

A grimaced as the medics carried the over extended body of Misumi away. They were shinobi and killing was in their job description, but he did not enjoy killing, most shinobi didn't and they didn't kill unnecessarily. The boy had genuinely enjoyed killing his opponent and it was completely avoidable but as a proctor he could only step in if the boy had said he gave up or if he was seriously injured, neither of which had happened.

Minato looked over at the boy with the green eye _Shibuki what have you done_

Naruto gripped the railing until his knuckles turned white, his eyes starting to tinge red.

"Naruto you need to calm down, you're affecting the others around you" Kakashi said, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder

"He killed that kid for no reason, he didn't have to do that, the damn bastard"

"Yes I know Naruto but that's the risk in these trials, I wish it could've gone another way but there's nothing we can do about it now, I'm sorry" Kakashi said with a grimace

"I hope I fight him in the finals"

"Alright let's begin the next round" A said

 **Rock Lee VS Shino Aburame**

"YOSH finally! Guy sensei I'll make you proud my flames of youth will burn bright!"

"Lee my boy show everyone what a splendid shinobi you are let your flames of youth burn hot!"

"Lee and Shino, man Shino really got the short end of the stick with this fight, there couldn't be anyone worse for him to fight" Shikamaru said

"What why do you say that?" Choji asked the lazy ninja

"Shino relies on his bugs to drain a user chakra to chakra exhaustion but Lee's chakra coils are underdeveloped which is why he can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, all his strength is his own from training, it's not enhanced by chakra so even if Shino starts to drain him, Lee's strength and speed won't decrease by much, and he's far faster than Shino's bugs are, Shino will lose this round, it was just an unlucky draw for him."

"Alright begin"

Shino outstretched his arms, sending millions of bugs at the spandex clad boy.

"I am sorry Shino but at those speeds your bugs will never be able to catch me" Lee said as he took off in a blur towards the bug user. His fist slammed into the side of the boys face, which promptly exploded into insects that began surrounding Lee.

"Secret technique: insect sphere" the insects formed a sphere around Lee, trapping him as they drained his chakra

"Leaf hurricane!" The bugs were scattered about, releasing Lee from his would be prison. He again shot off towards the boy and landed a kick on the boy that again turned out to be a bug clone. Shino reformed behind Lee, with his arm resembling a Mantis like claw. "Secret technique: Insect limbs" he slashed at the boy with much more speed than before, but alas it was to no avail. He felt a pressure on the side of his face and he found himself being launched across the arena.

Lee landed on the ground, his leg outstretched from catching Shino with his kick. The boy landed face down on the ground and attempted to get back on his feet, only for his arms to give out.

"Alright I'm calling it, winner Rock Lee"

"Yosh! Finally I can begin to prove that I can be a splendid shinobi with only using taijutsu!"

"Exit the arena"

"Lee you've made me proud!"

"Thank you guy sensei I will continue to make you proud!"

"Exit the arena"

"My flames of youth are burning hotter than they ever have been before!"

"GET THE HELL OFF THE ARENA DAMN IT THE NEXT MATCH NEEDS TO BEGIN!" A shouted at the eccentric genin

"Ah my apologies Raikage-sama"

A just sighed and rubbed his forehead as Lee jumps up to the viewing area. _Kami they're worse than B and his stupid rapping_

The screen stopped on two names again **Neji Hyuuga VS Hinata Hyuuga**

"Kami, Hinata don't do this please" Kiba said with genuine concern and fear for his friend

"It'll be ok Kiba" _It's time to show everyone how far I've come, hopefully it'll be enough to impress Naruto-kun_

The two combatants stood apart from each other, Neji glaring daggers at Hinata

"Alright begin"

"You should just give up now Hinata, you were born a failure and there's nothing you can do to change that and fighting me will only end in you being injured"

"You're wrong cousin, I've grown a lot and even if I'm not able to defeat you here I will still show just how far I've come"

Neji activated his Byakugan and Hinata did the same and the two engaged in their fierce fight.

"You're nothing more than a failure and an embarrassment to the family Hinata"

"Shut the hell up Neji! Hinata don't listen to that asshole and kick his ass!" Naruto shouted, every word that came out from Neji's mouth annoyed him to no end.

"Yeah Hinata shut that jerk up!" Kiba shouted

"You see Neji, as long as I have people who believe in me and cherish me I will never be a failure"

"Why you"

Neji increased the ferocity of his attacks, pushing Hinata on the defense. She managed to land a few blows here and there but all they did was cause Neji to increase his attack speed. For every attack she landed he landed three.

Soon the damage done caught up with Hinata and she dropped to one knee, blood spilling out from her mouth.

"Proctor end the match now"

"No!" She forced herself to stand up and dodged a few more attacks from Neji before landing one right on his lung, but to her immense shock there was no effect. Now that she actually focused on it, she realized there was no chakra flowing through her arm. Her tenketsu had been closed.

"Foolish girl, you never stood a chance at defeating me, you are and always will be a failure give up NOW!" He shouted as he landed another hit on the girl, sending her back a few feet. She fell to her hands and knees and coughed up more blood.

"Call the match"

"Would have the same failure been able to last this long against you? I've grown and I've shown everyone just how far I've come. I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you Neji and I hope one day you can let go of your hate."

"SHUT UP"

Time seemed to slow down for Naruto as he saw Neji throw a blow aimed right for Hinata's heart. His body moved on its own and he substituted himself with Hinata but before the blow could land a large hand caught Neji's arm just before it touched Naruto.

"That's enough, you're lucky that I don't disqualify you from participating in the third round, and you Namikaze, your father should be proud of you for that one, quick thinking saving your friend."

Guy had jumped down by this point and was right next to them "Raikage-sama, I'll take Neji from here" A let go his Neji's arm and him and Guy disappeared in a shunshin. Naruto did the same and appeared back in his spot, the medics having already taken Hinata.

"Naruto thank you for that, if it weren't for the Raikage you would've taken that blow" Kurenai said with a smile

"Yeah of course Kurenai-sensei, I'd do the same for any of my friends"

Before she could respond they were interrupted by the sounds of running that ended with Naruto being embraced.

"You're such a Baka you know that?" Fuu said

"Nice to see you too bug eyes, now please don't break my spine" he said, his voice sounding strained. The mint haired Jinchuriki let go of him.

"Sorry, I thought that attack was going to hit"

"Heh even if it did I'm not dying anytime soon"

"Keep scaring me like that and I might end up killing you Baka"

"I'd prefer if you didn't kill me, but I'll make sure to stop scaring you, mind staying over here?"

"Planned on it anyways, don't want to be around my teammate's any more than I have to"

"The next round will be" the screen stopped **Sasuke Uchiha VS Omoi**

 _Alright B let's see what your students can do_

"Ha better win teme!"

"Tch shut up dobe"

Sasuke and Omoi jumped down to the arena floor and both drew their blades

"Ah man you're part of the famed Uchiha clan, what if I lose here what if I lose so bad that I shame even B-sensei and he drops me as a student and then no other sensei would want me and I'm stuck as a genin forever and-"

"OMOI SHUT THE HELL UP" a kunoichi yelled

 _Of course my brother's students are worse than he is_ "Begin"

Sasuke immediately ignited his sword in flames and he and Omoi engaged in a fierce kenjutsu battle, although Omoi had to keep his blade farther outstretched than he would have liked in order to avoid the flames. Their blades ranged out with each clash, sending off sparks and fire.

"You're pretty good with your sword, but" he then activated his sharingan "it won't be enough" he then increased the strength and speed of his attacks. Omoi was only just able to defend himself against the fierce barrage of attacks.

 _Oh man he has a fully matured sharingan, I'm probably moving in slow motion to him this is not good_

"Cloud Style: Crescent Moon Beheading" Omoi swung his blade with much more speed and power than before, forcing Sasuke to jump back to avoid the powerful attack.

"Katon: Crescent Slash" Sasuke used the jutsu in three rapid successions. Omoi miraculously managed to dodge all three of the scorching arcs. Sasuke smirked and ran back at the boy and began his onslaught. Omoi was putting up a decent defense as he had yet to be hit, but unbeknownst to him, Sasuke had been cornering him in the semi circle of fire he had made with his attacks.

"Crap this was your plan, those attacks weren't meant to hit me at all, oh man what if-"

"Shut up already" Sasuke engaged the boy in a fierce clash, their blades locked against each other's as they tried to get dominance over the other and end the battle. Sasuke proved to have superior strength and gained the upper hand as he brought his sword down then back up in a full circle, disarming Omoi and sending his sword into the air. Sasuke caught his sword and then launched a powerful kick at the boy, sending him flying right through the flames.

He jumped over them and brought Omoi's blade down, stabbing the ground next to his head. "You lose, call the match" he said, holding the tip of the flame encased blade just above Omoi's throat.

"Heh well I guess I lose sorry Raikage-sama"

"Winner Sasuke Uchiha"

"I knew you could do it Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled with delight.

"Nice job teme"

"Oh I hope I'm next" Fuu said as she crossed her fingers and closed her eyes

"The next round will be"

 **Kabuto Yakushi VS Gantetsu**

"Is it me?"

"Sorry Fuu-chan, it's your teammate"

"Damn it, who's he fighting?"

"Some leaf shinobi, I met him before we left to Suna, he said he's taken the exams seven times already"

"Well lucky for him Gantetsu isn't like Ahiko, he won't kill him"

"Yeah lucky him" Naruto said, trying to not allow anger to seep into his voice.

"Heh I'm not really the fighting type but hopefully this doesn't go too bad for me eh?" Kabuto said with a sheepish grin

The blue haired boy put his hands on his blades in response

"Oh well I guess not then, proctor would you mind?"

"Damn disrespectful brats, begin"

Kabuto's hands immediately began glowing blue and he rushed the other boy, not giving him time to draw his blades

"Suiton: water bullet"

The attack came flying at Kabuto who simply pushed his palm out, splitting the attack once it hit. "Nice try" Kabuto said with a smile. The failed attack had given the boy enough time to draw his blades which crackled with electricity. He gave out a yell and began striking at Kabuto, sparks of electricity flying off, some hitting Kabuto, causing involuntary movements that resulted him getting cut a few times.

"Ha where'd all that cockiness go huh?" He said with glee as he landed yet another cut on the boy.

 _I have no need to pass, oh well I might as well let the boy win, though I would really like to shut the damn brat up_ Kabuto thought to himself as he began attacking with renewed effort. He dodged a wild swing from the boy and threw a roundhouse kick catching him right on the jaw and sending the blade wielding boy across the arena.

He stood back up and spat out a glob of blood "Heh you're going to pay for that you bastard Suiton: water wave jutsu" Gantetsu spewed a wave of water at his opponent but instead of crushing Kabuto the water only hit him at his ankles as it covered the entire arena. "Time to finish this Raiton: Lightning blast" the blue haired boy jumped in the air, grabbed onto the railing surrounding the viewing area, and thrust his blade forward, launching a stream of lightning into the water.

Kabuto let out a pained scream as the intensified lightning racked through his whole body. Gantetsu cut the stream off after a few seconds, still holding onto the railing. Kabuto fell face first into the water, smoke coming off his body.

"Winner Gantetsu, thank you for flooding the daMN ARENA FOR EVERYONE ELSE" A activated his lightning cloak and walked into the water to retrieve Kabuto. Once the electricity had dissipated and the water was safe to go through the medics carried Kabuto away.

"Well I can fix the water problem" Minato said cheerfully "Katon: Art of the great raging fire dragon jutsu" He blew out a stream of fire that transformed into dragon. The beast arched up then slammed down into the ground, evaporating all the water immediately.

 _Ah man dads jutsus are so cool, but he really needs to learn how to give them better names._

"Damn show off" A said as the jutsu ended

Minato gave a shrug and a small smile "Heh what can I say I got carried away some"

"Right, anyways let's get the next round started"

 **Fuu VS Kiba Inuzuka**

"YES YES YES! FINALLY!" Fuu cheered

"Alright calm down bug eyes" Naruto chuckled to his friend

"Shut it fox face you were the first one to fight, now you better cheer me on"

She then jumped down and her smile was replaced with the look of a hardened shinobi.

"Ah man why'd I get such a hot babe like you, now I'm going to worry about accidentally hitting your face"

Naruto groaned and put his face in his hands "Oh you idiot"

"Huh what's wrong Naruto?" Choji asked

"She's going to kill him that's what's wrong" he said with a slight chuckle at the end.

"Begin"

Fuu immediately activated her cloak to two tails and hovered in the air "your move dog breath"

"Oh a feisty one huh, alright Akamaru let's show her what we can do Man beast clone" Akamaru then transformed into an identical copy of Kiba. "Beast Mimicry jutsu!" Kiba then dropped down to all fours as chakra flowed around him and Akamaru "Alright let's see how you handle this Gatsūga!" The two began rotating at incredible speeds and flew at Fuu in a drill.

She easily dodged both of the attacks and turned around to see Kiba and Akamaru back on all fours. "I will admit that attack is fast, but I can fly a lot faster so unless you have another attack, well looks like you lose"

"Ha, hot as hell, a drop dead body, powerful, and feisty, Kami you're the package deal I think I'm in love, how about a date after this eh?" Kiba said with hearts replacing his eyes

"Shut up and fight"

"Gatsūga!" The two drills came flying towards her, with one going slightly faster than the other. Instead of dodging the attacks Fuu drew back her fist and threw an earth shattering punch at the first drill and grabbed the other one once it had almost passed her so she had Kiba by the leg. She spun around and launched him into the ground. Both hit with loud thuds, creating small craters where they landed. The Kiba that hit the ground turned into Alamaru with a puff of smoke while the real Kiba was embedded in the wall, swirls replacing his eyes.

"Haha winner Fuu"

She flew back up to her spot by Naruto and deactivated her cloak, a frown prominent on her face. "Your friend is a pig"

"I'm pretty sure he's closer to a dog"

Her head snapped so that she was looking at him, her mouth drawn in a thin line.

"Heh you don't look too amused" he felt a chill go down his back

"Naruto-kun"

"Aha yes Fuu-chan?" He said, his voice coming out much smaller than he meant it to

"Do you want to go to the infirmary?" She said in a too sweet of voice.

"I'll be quiet now"

"Smart" she said with a smile and gave her friend a hug.

 _She can be really scary when she wants to be, I should probably always stay on her good side._

"Next round" **Shikamaru Nara VS Karui**

"Great I have to fight a girl and the one that was shouting louder than Ino, of all people. Troublesome"

"Hurry up and get down there Shikamaru" Asuma said, glaring at his student

"Yeah yeah I'm going"

"Well this should be interesting" Naruto said to Fuu, who had calmed down now and was currently leaning on the rails

"Why do you say that? He's going to lose isn't he? I've never met someone more lazy and just out of it"

"Shikamaru is a genius actually, he just does the minimum but he'll still win, probably easy and fast too, he's not the type to prolong anything obviously"

"Hm well then this should be interesting"

Kakashi watched his student with a small grin hidden on his face _Oh Naruto, doing the same thing again but I don't think this one will go back home with you, oh well you better enjoy your time with her now while you can._

"Hurry the hell up we need to start the match" A said, clearly irritated with the leisurely pace Shikamaru had as he walked over to the center of the arena.

Karui had her hand on the hilt of her blade already and was visibly getting more and more mad as her opponent took his sweet time. "HURRY UP, START THE DAMN MATCH ALREADY!"

"Hm troublesome" Shikamaru said as he finally got into position

 _And I thought I had it bad with some of my shinobi, Ha Minato this entire village is one huge pain in the ass_ "Finally, begin"

Immediately Karui drew her blade and began slashing at the boy who displayed some impressive flexibility and speed as he dodged each attack with ease. "Damn. It. Why. Can't. I. Argh. HIT YOU?" She said in between slashes. Shikamaru quickly drew two kunai and threw them at her, forcing her back against the wall to avoid being hit.

"Was that it?" She asked with anger as the Nara put his hands down after the throws. When he failed to respond she took off again towards the boy but after she passed kunai closest to her, her movements stopped completely.

"What, w-why can't I move?"

"Shadow possession jutsu success"

"What did you do to me?"

"My clan's secret technique, every move I do you copy, you let your anger cloud you so much that you were only focused on landing a hit, you didn't even see me put my hands in seals. The kunai were so I could extend the range of my attack as well but you just ignored them." he began moving his right hand up, and Karui did the same, inching the tip of her blade closer and closer to her chin. Her eyes widened with fear and she realized that if he didn't stop this would be it, she'd kill herself.

"Alright I'm calling the match, winner Shikamaru Nara" A announced _He realized how quickly Karui could be irritated when she shouted at Omoi, that's why he took so long to get here, he was intentionally making her angry, and then when she failed to land a hit it pushed her over the edge. Hm he'll be one to watch as he gets older._

Shikamaru released the jutsu and casually walked back to the viewing area.

"Nice job Shikamaru" Naruto said with a smile as he gave his friend a rather hard pat on the back.

"You're right, that was impressive" Fuu said

"See I'm always right" Naruto said with a wide grin

"Ha, more like ten percent of the time" she said with a wider smile as

"You're so mean to me" he said in a down trodden voice.

"Well I guess that's just how I treat people I really care about" she said with a slight blush

"Well if that's the case then it's worth it" he said, his entire face turning a shade red

"Next round" **Sakura Haruno VS Temari No Sabaku**

"Well guess it's my turn to pass now, wish me luck guys" Sakura said with a smile as she walked down to the arena

"Good luck Sakura, you better pass" Naruto said with a grin.

"Yeah" was all Sasuke offered, but he did give a small grin as opposed to his usual scowl.

 _Alright time to show everyone just how far I've come_

"Ha, this will be easy, I'll only have to show the first moon" Temari said after seeing her opponent

 _Good let her underestimate me, it'll be even better when I take her down._

"Begin"

Immediately Temari opened her fan and launched a powerful gust of wind at Sakura. Thanks to the distortion caused by the technique, Temari wasn't able to see as Sakura's skin darkened. She only could stare in shock as Sakura hadn't moved an inch.

"Wha-what but how?"

"If that's all you have-"

Temari opened her fan to the second moon and threw a more powerful gust of wind at her opponent. This time the gust was able to scooch Sakura back a few inches but nothing more than that.

"You should really just give up no-"

"Shut up and take this" Temari gave a yell as she opened her fan all the way and threw an incredibly powerful blast of wind at Sakura. This time the girl had to drop low to the ground and imbed her hand into it to avoid being sent into the heavily damaged wall. _Well this looks to be her strongest attack, once it's done it's my turn._ After a few more moments the powerful attack ended with Sakura being no worse for wear as she deactivated her jutsu.

"H-how?"

"Looks like it's my turn" Sakura then took off at Temari, destroying the ground from her kick off as her leg was darker in color again. She moved faster than Temari could and landed a left hook then a right to follow, blood and spit flying from the blond girl's mouth. She grabbed her collar and pulled her into a powerful punch to the gut, depriving Temari of her breath. She followed the hit with a knee to the same area then a punch across the girl's jaw, dropping Temari to her hands and knees

 _Time to finish this bitch_ she then activated earth spear to her legs and kicked the blond, sending her flying. She took off after the girl, easily catching up due to the added strength from her jutsu. She then focused the jutsu just on her arm, putting as much chakra as possible and slammed her fist into Temari's stomach, creating a shockwave from the attack.

Temari slammed into the wall with an earth shattering force, leaving an imprint of where she hit as she fell to the arena floor.

"Winner Sakura Haruno" _Damn it Minato what the hell are your genin, for that girl to know earth spear and have that much mastery over it already._

"I did it" Sakura said to herself with a smile as she walked back to her teammates

"Nice job Sakura I knew you'd kick her ass" Naruto said, offering the girl a simple high-five.

"Yeah, good job" Sasuke said in an even more monotone voice than usual.

"Hm what was that Sasuke-kun? I didn't quite hear you" she said with a smile

"Don't push it"

"Ah Sasuke-kun it's ok I won't tell anyone you gave me a compliment" Sakura said as he wrapped her arms around the boy's neck, much to his displeasure.

 _Well I believe Asuma and Guy both owe me a quite a bit of Ryo_ Kakashi thought to himself as he looked at all of his students with pride.

"Alright second to last match" **Choji Akimichi VS Samui**

"Good luck Choji, oh and if you win I'll treat you to some Bar-B-que, how does that sound?" Asuma said to his student

"Alright Asuma sensei I'll do my best" Choji said with confidence

"Begin"

"You better not lose fatso!" Shikamaru yelled out

Choji's eyes ignited with flames and he gave a guttural yell "expansion jutsu!" Choji's body ballooned up to be almost completely round. His head and appendages then sunk in, being replaced by streams of chakra as he shouted "Human Boulder" the giant ball then began spinning at rapid speeds before shooting off at his opponent, aiming to crush her.

"This is not a very cool technique" Samui said as she dodged the attack. Choji began turning around, aiming to have another try at colliding with his opponent. "Raiton: Lightning wave!" Samui then threw a wide wave of electricity at the boy, causing his jutsu to end mid roll, leaving him crumpled on the ground, with the occasional spark of electricity coming from him.

"Winner Samui" _one of your students passed B just one. Damn you Minato._

"Well at least Choji tried, so I'll still take you all out to eat after this then" Asuma said to Shikamaru.

"Final Match!" **Gaara No Sabaku VS Yoroi Akadō**

Gaara appeared on the arena in a swirl of sand and Yoroi jumped down, his body tensed and ready to begin the battle.

"Well here's our chance to learn all that we can about him" Naruto said, his eyes focused on the red haired boy.

"Yeah, other than his sand control do you know anything about him?"

"Nothing, which really worries me"

"Yeah"

"Begin"

"Mother demands blood, she demands yours and she will have it" Gaara said as the cork to his gourd popped off and sand began coming out of it.

"What the hell are you talking about you freak" Yoroi said as his hands began glowing blue. Gaara lashed out with his sand but the second it touched Yoroi's hand it fell, deprived of chakra.

"Ha I absorb chakra and looks like you only use that sand which is chalk full of it, oh this is going to be great, looks like you got the short end of the stick here you runt"

Gaara didn't respond, instead opting to attack with his sand faster and faster, sending more and more at the boy with each attack. Once his sand fell he simply picked it back up again, he had the chakra to spare

"Why does he keep throwing his sound out like that? He's going to run out of chakra" Shikamaru

pondered out loud

"He's not, he's like me" Naruto said, his voice devoid of emotion

"Then that means, the other guy's going to be swarmed pretty soon, he can only absorb so much chakra at a time, there's going to be more sand on him than he can absorb eventually" The lazy Nara said with some worry in his voice

"And it's not going to be pretty when it happens" Naruto said gravely

Yoroi was quickly realizing this as well as the sand was wrapped around his arms up to his elbows now, it was constantly falling but still being replaced at a faster pace. It started rapidly covering his opponent, Yoroi wasn't using enough chakra to absorb any more than what he currently was and had no other jutsu to rely on, he hadn't ran into an opponent before who had so much chakra.

"Sand coffin" Gaara said with almost glee as he had finally encased his opponent in sand.

"Oh Kami" Fuu whispered

"NOO" Naruto shouted but it was too late

"SAND FUNERAL!" Gaara shouted and his sand imploded, liquefying his opponent and showering the arena in blood.

No one said a word as Gaara simply walked away, everyone stunned and disgusted with what they witnessed. A didn't bother saying the winner.

"Will all winners assemble in front of me" A said as he stood as far away from the gore as possible

Minato joined them and held a wooden box. "You will each draw a number from here and that will determine what round you are fighting in and who your opponent will be. Once we've all drawn you will call out your number and the brackets will be displayed on the board."

They all drew their numbers then began shouting off their numbers. "Sasuke Uchiha 1" "Gantetsu 1"

"Rock Lee 2" "Hm Neji Hyuuga 2"

"Naruto Namikaze 3" "Heh Ahiko 3"

"Tenten 4" "Sakura Haruno 4"

"Shikamaru Nara 5" "Samui 5"

"Gaara 6" "Fuu 6"

Naruto closed his eyes as fear and worry crept in. Of all people to fight that monster, he knew she could handle herself but still, the thought of anyone he cared about going up against him.

"Alright the third trial begins in a month and will take place in Konoha, tomorrow you will all be teleported there, all training grounds will be open to everyone, but under no circumstances are there to be any fights before the tournament, now all of you get some rest, you teleport first thing in the morning." Minato said

"Hey Fuu-chan, I'm going to check on everyone in the infirmary, mind coming with me?" Naruto said quietly as he quickly walked away from the group, his friend in tow behind him

"Of course not, kind of want to make sure I didn't hurt your friend too much either."

"Heh yeah, well Kiba's pretty hard headed I doubt you did"

"I'll be ok Naruto-kun"

"I know you will I'm just, after seeing that I, I just don't want anything to happen to you." He said stopping in his tracks as he looked at Fuu.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and gave a small smile "it'll be alright, I have a month to prepare for it, and you'll be training with me right?" She squeezed his shoulder slightly

"Heh, yeah of course, any opportunity to spend time with you, hey Fuu-chan can I tell you something?"

"Yes of course, what is it"

 _Tell her how you feel tell her how you feel tell her_

"I um I-"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to be really tough on our training, need to make sure you get as strong as possible from now till then"

"I'd expect nothing less, now come on, let's go check on everyone."

They stopped by Hinata's room first only to be told that no one could see her yet as they were finishing up the last of her surgeries but that she'd be teleporting back to Konoha with everyone else.

"I hope Lee kicks Neji's ass, that bastard went to far with what he did to Hinata" Naruto had continuously tightened his fist the more the nurses had told him and by this point his knuckles were bone white.

"Well at least she'll be ok, but yeah I'd like to kick his ass too, what an asshole, trying to convince people that you can't change your fate, if that were true then I'd never have met you"

 **He obviously likes you Fuu why don't you tell him how you feel**

 _What're you talking about Nanabi, I like him as a friend and he feels the same about me_

 **Oh Fuu, it's not good to lie you yourself you know that**

 _I'm not Nanabi, believe me we're just friends_

 **If that's what you want to believe**

"Everything ok?" Naruto asked as Fuu had a far away look

"Huh, oh yeah just talking to the Nanabi, have you talked to the Kyuubi?"

"Nope, I'm fine without him"

"Naruto, Ahiko is strong and he's dangerous, I know you can beat him but still, it's always good to have an ace in the hole"

He gave out a sigh "yeah I know, and Jiraiya and Tousan have been wanting to train me with his chakra so I'll have to start talking to him again soon, just not looking forward to it"

"Who would look forward to talking about the embodiment of hatred"

 **Self proclaimed embodiment Fuu**

"Oops let me correct myself Nanabi said self proclaimed embodiment of hate" Fuu said with an eye roll which elicited a chuckle from her blond friend.

After that the two went to visit Kiba then Ino, both suffering from a mild concussion and damaged pride, and after their quick defeats it'd be shocking if their pride's weren't hurt. They stopped by Choji's room to see him already eating, the electricity that hit him wasn't that powerful.

After that the two walked over to the dining area to grab a quick bite before doing what the had been doing the past few days, simply walking around the very large complex talking and enjoying each other's company as the exchanged stories.

Their enjoyment was brought to a halt when they turned a corner to see Gaara at the end of the hall. Naruto and Fuu's bodies tensed as his cork popped off of the large gourd and sand seeped out slowly. The sand floated close to his ear and stayed there for a few moments before it receded back and the small red haired boy walked away, muttering "Not yet mother, not yet"

"Be careful tonight Fuu, he might try something"

"Yeah I know, maybe uhm…"

"What? Maybe what?"

"Maybe it would ah be uhm…"

"What?" He laughed as he saw her struggle with what she wanted to say "Spit it out" he said with a large smile

"You already know what I'm going to say you jerk" she said as her face turned bright red

"Hmm I don't know do I? Maybe you should just say it, just to make sure" his smile grew larger

"I'm going to send you through a wall one day" she said as she lightly pushed her friend

"Hah maybe, but uhm y-yeah it would be o-ok if" now it was his turn to for his face to turn bright red

"If what hmm? Common you can do it Naruto-kun spit it out" she said with a large smile

"If you-"

"If I spent the night in your room, just in case he tries to do something" she added the last part quickly.

Naruto simply nodded his head quickly.

 **Well that was fast, already sleeping together**

 _It's just to make sure I'm safe, and Ahiko isn't above doing something either Nanabi. How many times do I have to tell you we're just friends_

 **You keep saying that but it becomes harder to believe each time**

 _Oh be quiet, just friends_

The two walked over to Fuu's room so that she could shower and grab a change of clothes before they headed off to Naruto's room.

Fuu laugh echoed through the room as Naruto walked out from the restroom, dawning his sleepwear

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked with a scowl on his face as she continued to laugh

"I'm like your hat" she said as she attempted to catch her breath

"Oh I'm sorry I have actual sleep clothes and not ones that double as shinobi attire"

"Well there were times where my trainers would wake me up abruptly in the middle of the night for drills so after a while I was able to find these" she motioned to herself. She wore a short sleeved white top that still exposed her midriff and white pants that had one large pouch on each side. On the sleeves were summoning seals and on the back was a larger one for her container. "They're slightly more comfortable than regular shinobi clothes but hey it's better than nothing" she gave a small shrug as she finished her sentence.

"Alright first thing we're doing when we get to Konoha is finding you some better sleep clothes"

"If it means buying me a little hat then I think I'm ok" she said with a smirk

"LEAVE MY HAT ALONE, I happen to like it, hey what's that container for anyways? You wear it no matter where you go"

"Oh uh well Taki doesn't really have the best seal masters so they couldn't make a powerful enough seal for me, so I only have about four tails worth of the Nanabi's chakra inside of me, the rest is contained in there"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope, saving grace is that they were at least able to seal the Nanabi's consciousness inside of me, so the container is full of unfiltered bijuu chakra, so if someone takes it or tries to draw the bijuu chakra out from it, they're going to die"

"Alright that's insane, Tousan and ero-sennin will be able to put a better seal on you so you don't have lug that thing around anymore"

"They would do that for me?"

"Of course they would, yeah we'll probably spend most of tomorrow doing that, THEN we can get you proper sleep clothes"

She gave a small chuckle "thank you Naruto-kun, for everything you've done for me"

"Yeah of course, what're friends for heh" _Now would be perfect to tell her_ "Ah Fuu"

"Yes fox face?"

"Goodnight"

"Goodnight Naruto-kun"

He closed his eyes and laying there with her next to him brought a sense of peace that he hadn't felt in a while. They both dozed off with smiles on their faces.

 **Jutsu List**

Severing Tornado-the user create a tornado that they can control strength, size, speed, and direction. After performing the necessary seals, the user jumps and spins, sending their chakra out, turning the air around them and pushing it forward. Requires adept skill with the wind element and adequate chakra control. Shinobi with exceptional control can begin the technique by only moving their hands in a rotating fashion. Use of tool can aid those who are not quite at the control level to better direct their chakra and the air currents.

Insect limbs-only usable of those who are from and insect using clan. The users surround their limbs in their insects and focus on creating the limb of any insect, giving them increased strength and\or cutting power. Requires high levels of concentration as each limb becomes an extension of themselves. Can also be used to create human limbs.

Crescent slash-changes with element. A quick and fast slash with a blade that fires off the element in a crescent shape. The user pushes their chakra outwards from the tip of their blade as they swing, pushing out their element in a fast moving attack.

Water wave-a significantly weaker version of the water crushing wave, jutsu serves to primarily cover an area in water. Many water users will rely on this jutsu to supply themselves with water in a dry environment.

Lightning blast-user shoots out continuous stream of electricity. This technique can quickly deplete users chakra depending on how powerful they make the stream as it constantly drains chakra. Skilled users can even chain the lightning to multiple targets as long as they are relatively close to others.

Lightning wave-user puts palms together and sends streams of electricity between them. User then separates hands, resulting in a wide, constant stream of electricity between their hands. User can then throw the stream out or spin in order to build momentum and strength before throwing the wave out, which immediately grows in size. Wave can cover large area and do anywhere from simply shocking targets body and momentarily disabling them to causing death to target(s). With more mastery over technique user can control width and height of wave. The Raikage A is rumored to be able to create a deadly one twice his height and as wide as a large field.

Art of the great raging fire dragon jutsu-kage level of chakra and element manipulation required. User shoots a standard stream of fire which is then manipulated into the shape of a dragon. User controls the jutsu through pure chakra and nature manipulation, amount of chakra used determines heat of flames. Because the technique relies on manipulation little to no hand seals are required to shape the fire.

 **And I'm back, sorry for the wait I was on vacation and didn't have a computer with me, I write all of these on my phone and when I use the copy and paste option the bolds and italics don't copy over so it's a tedious process going through all of that. Anyways official pairing is NarutoxFuu sorry if this angers some of you but many of you guys made damn good arguments on why it should just be these two. Jutsu list is something I'll start doing now, forgive me if the descriptions are not the best, just as my writing, they'll improve more as time passes. I'll hopefully be back soon so as always leave likes follows and comments and tell me what you all think about the question i asked the last chapter, should I give Fuu toad sage mode and if not what summon should I give her. See you all soon.**


	10. Safety

**Disclaimer : Yeah still don't own Naruto, maybe Kishi should take a page from Tidal's and the Dolphin's book and give shares to anyone who asks.**

 **Safety**

 **Would all shinobi please gather in the arena.**

The message echoed throughout the room, waking Fuu first. _Noooo not yet._

The message sounded off again _ugh well I'll just wait until he wakes up._

The message sounded off two more times but Naruto remained asleep. _Alright one more time then I'll wake him up_. He remained asleep. _How is he still asleep_ she thought while sweat dropping.

"Hey wake up" she gave him a shake but to no avail. "Wake up" she gave him another shake only to receive a loud snore in response. Her eye twitched before she simply shoved the blond off the bed.

"Good Morning Naruto-kun"

"GAH what the hell? Why would you do that" on que the message sounded off again "Oh, hehe thanks Fuu-chan"

"What kind of ninja is **that** heavy of a sleeper?"

"Well forgive me for being comfortable" he said in a false indignant tone

"Don't get too comfortable fox face, one time thing"

 **Already sleeping together, so forward Fuu**

 _We've gone over this Nanabi, just friends._

 **Really now, because people who are just friends don't usually want to sleep together, or enjoy it that much.**

Naruto glanced over at her to see a smirk on her angelic face. _Tell her you moron. Tell her how you feel_ "Hey Fuu"

"Yeah" she said while grabbing her change of clothes

"I uh I'll change in the restroom" _Nice one._

 **You're pathetic**

 _Leave me alone furball_

 **Pitiful**

 _What do you want Kyuubi_

 **Your pursuit over the bugs container is pathetic to watch.**

 _Thank you for your input now go back to sleep, damn demon_

 **You will not have as easy access to my powers as you enjoyed before Naruto, you will have to earn that privilege from now on, something I doubt you will be able to do**

 _Yeah yeah whatever, I'm done talking to you_

By the time he ended their talk he had fully dressed into his shinobi attire. "Am I good to go back into the room?"

"Just a minute" Fuu called out as she put her skirt on. "Alright you can come back in"

"Excited to see Konoha?" He said as they walked out of the room, heading towards the arena

"Yeah, and nervous"

"What why would you be nervous?"

"...I know what you said about the village and Jinchuuriki, but still"

"Fuu it'll be ok, and if anyone gives you shit they'll have to deal with me and Tousan, but that won't happen and everything will be ok, you'll have a great time there"

"I hope so, now let's go" she said with a smile.

They exited his room to see Sakura and Sasuke walking towards them.

"Oh uh we uh we were just ah about to get you...whywereyoutwointhesameroom?" Sakura said adding the last part rather quickly and very, very loudly.

"Uh Gaara and Ahiko might have tried something while we were asleep so ah we uhm we figured it was safer to slee-STAY, to stay together" Naruto said, greatly embarrassed that his friends caught them leaving the same room.

"Hmm well did you guys d-" Sakura was suddenly cut off by Sasuke grabbing her arm and dragging her away from interrogating their friends.

"Come on that's enough Sakura, let's go" Sasuke said while glaring daggers at Naruto as Sakura's eyes had been replaced by hearts.

"I'm losing count of all the ones I owe him, oh it's not going to be pretty when he cashes in."

"Is there something going on between those two?"

"Uhm I don't thinks so...they have been spending a lot of time together though"

"Well I guess that's my fault"

"Heh rather spend time with you than anyone else Fuu-chan" she blushed before giving Naruto a playful push on his shoulder to which he responded with a laugh before he swallowed, then grabbed her hand. "Come on we don't want to be late" he then took off at a jog, Fuu in tow behind him.

 **Meanwhile in Konoha**

"Have all the preparations been made?" A voice rang out. It was the type of voice no one ever wanted hear at night. A voice that sounded akin to scales over rocks, smooth, but terrifying.

"Yes, my men will be standing guard, allowing for yours, and our mutual friend's soldiers to enter and hide in plain site." Another responded, this one's voice was raspy and hardened; a veterans voice.

"Perfect"

"And as for the others?"

"I've taken everything into account, in one month Konoha will be yours and we shall begin a very beneficial partnership."

"I look forward to our future endeavors Orochimaru"

"Yes and behalf of the Akatsuki, we do as well Danzo" Orochimaru gained a wide grin and a hungry look in his eyes.

 **Several minutes later, center of Konoha**

A large seal array appeared followed moments later by a very large plume of smoke as everyone from the preliminaries appeared.

"Alright just as it was in Suna, there are hotels set aside for each participating village, under no circumstances is any fighting to happen and all training grounds are open. Other than that enjoy yourselves as our guests" Minato announced to everyone with a smile. He then turned to Naruto "You, Fuu, and Sasuke come with me."

Minato led the trio to his office in Hokage tower. "Alright Sasuke i'll begins the preparations to remove the seal, Naruto and Fuu the process will take maybe ten minutes I want you two to wait outside of the room, there's some things I'd like to talk to you about" he said with a smile and ruffled Naruto's head. The second the two stepped out of the room the doors shut behind them.

"What do you think he wants to talk to us about?" Fuu said, some worry in her voice

"Not sure but I don't think we're in trouble or anything, maybe some advice for the fights or something not sure, we'll just have to wait and see"

"Yeah waiting is the worst part"

"Heh we'll be ok, so this is what's our day going to look like…" He then proceeded to list out all the activities that he wanted them to do for the day, which quickly turned into all the activities he wanted them to do for the month.

 **Inside of the room**

"Alright Sasuke are you ready?" Minato said as he made several shadow clones that began drawing intricate markings all around the room

"Yes, my chakra network still has some damage to it because of this stupid thing, it's harder to perform a lot of jutsu"

"Ah, well Lady Tsunade should be arriving here in a few days, once she does I'll have her look at you and fix any damage that she can, alright the seals are prepared, remove your shirt please, and this is going to hurt"

Sasuke did as he told and glanced at the grey seal now, it constantly throbbed, as if Orochimaru's chakra was trying to break free.

"Demon removal seal" Sasuke barely heard the words before everything went black. He came to in the same sitting position as before. He tried to turn his head to look at the seal only for the action to send jolts of pain through his entire body.

"Don't move" Minato said.

Sasuke felt slight pressure on his back sending immediate agony again only for it to be replaced by relief.

"I put a healing seal on you, just rest for a bit and move only when you think you're able to, the seal's gone, though Tsunade will definitely have to take a look at you, there was more traces of Orochimaru's chakra left in you than I had anticipated, so the process of ripping his chakra from you damaged your network more than it already was, I'm going to send a clone to get her, you'll need to be at full health to properly train for the tournament. Just stay in here until Tsunade arrives"

After a few more moments Sasuke could finally move without it causing him agony. He pulled his shirt back on and sat down at a chair near the door and leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed, the healing seal relaxing and soothing him. "Thank you Hokage-sama"

"Shadow clone jutsu" with a poof an identical clone of Minato appeared that instantly teleported away, Tsunade always kept one of his kunai nearby in case of emergencies.

"Alright now I'm going to let Naruto and Fuu in and speak to them, everything I say is not to leave this room"

Sasuke gave a small nod. Minato walked to the door and opened it up, letting Naruto and Fuu.

"Alright well I just have some questions for you Fuu and I figured you'd be more comfortable with Naruto around" Minato said with a smile

"I uhm didn't do anything right?" Fuu said, her voice coming out small and nervous

"No no not at all, I'm just attempting to figure out some things and you will help me greatly with them"

"O-ok"

"Great, alright I do ask that you be completely honest with me, how would you describe your treatment in Taki?"

Fuu was taken aback by the question, aside from Naruto no one asked how she was treated there, she was a Jinchuriki she was treated like trash. She paused for a few moments before answering, "I'm treated as most Jinchuriki are, my training is handled by Anbu who regard me as nothing more than a weapon, the civilians are angered and scared by my presence"

"Has Shibuki done anything to prevent this treatment?"

She paused for a moment to comb through her memories. Something occurred to her that sent a pang of anger and pain through her being. Shibuki never told people to stop, he was always nice to her but he was the village leader, he could have easily demanded that people treat her differently, hell he could have passed a law that at least made it so she wasn't refused service from a majority of the shops in the village. "As I'm aware of, no he did not, he always treated me very kindly but everyone else treats me however they see fit"

"I'm sorry to hear that Fuu, just a few more questions and we'll be done here, your teammate, Ahiko I believe, do you know who authorized the the jutsu to be performed on him?"

 _This is classified information he's asking_

 **And? What's the village ever done for either of us?** The Nanabi replied back **Tell him what he wants to know, why bother lying to the Hokage, especially with your relationship to Naruto.**

"...Yes, I was nearby when they were discussing it, several of our Anbu captains were pressuring Shibuki to give them the scroll that contained the jutsu so that they could begin performing it on people, they're argument was that Taki wasn't producing many powerful shinobi as of late so giving them the ability to again start performing the jutsu would help raise our strength to what it once was"

"How long did Shibuki deny them their requests until he relented?" Minato's eyes tightened slightly, he wasn't happy with what he was hearing.

"Not long at all, maybe after the third or fourth meeting did he hand over the scroll"

"Have they performed the jutsu on anyone else?"

"Not that I'm aware of, Ahiko was the first one but you know how that turned out"

"Yes I do, alright last question, do you know why Taki was given a bijuu?"

Fuu thought on this for a few moments, it was a question she had never thought to ask, but the more she thought about it the more it didn't make sense, each of the main hidden villages were given a bijuu to even the playing field between them so why had Taki, a minor village, been given one? Especially since the first Hokage was the most powerful shinobi at the time and could have easily kept two bijuu for the hidden leaf. And Naruto had told her the only reason the Kyuubi was split between him and his dad was because as an infant he wouldn't have been able to handle the entire Kyuubi being put into him. "No I don't actually,...if I may ask, why were we given one?"

"Originally Konoha kept two bijuu, the Kyuubi and the Nanabi, but at the time Taki's military and economy were growing at an exponential rate. It was predicted that they'd be as powerful as the main five hidden villages after a few years, so naturally the first Hokage wanted to make a treaty with them. However, while visiting Taki he witnessed the earth grudge fear being used on a shinobi. He was disgusted with the barbaric process used in the ritual and was aghast that a village leader would ever authorize such a process to be used. Seeing as Taki was, and still is, a minor village he had more leeway with making the treaty. In it he specified that the earth grudge fear was to be labeled a kinjutsu and not to be used on anyone, the one exception to this being the leader of Taki, who would be free to use the jutsu on themselves. He also made it clear that he expected Taki to always treat their Jinchuriki as they are treated in Konoha, which has always been with respect and kindness. Failure to meet these requirement would result in Konoha taking back the Nanabi immediately without argument from Taki. Breaking this treaty would result in Konoha cutting ties with Taki, and if they refused to deliver the Nanabi, it would mean war between the two villages. The treaty was almost broken when the jutsu was used on Kakuzu but the leader at the time was able make it seem that Kakuzu had stolen the scroll and performed the jutsu on himself. And now that brings us here, I have plenty of evidence that the treaty has been broken. However, seeing as the Nanabi is in a host I can't demand you back to Konoha. Instead, I want to offer you a permanent position here as a shinobi, an offer that you are completely free to turn down with no repercussions." Minato said with a smile. He looked over at Naruto to see him with a look of surprise and joy.

"Yo-you're what?" Fuu said with shock, this had to be a dream, this had to be, there's no way this was real. Her life, so full of misery up until she had met Naruto, had flipped completely around but she had always thought it was only temporarily. And now she was given the offer to a permanent life full of happiness and joy, this had to be a dream.

"I'm offering you a place here, as a Konoha shinobi" Minato said with a warm smile, he couldn't tell who looked more shocked and happy, Fuu or Naruto.

"YES" she shouted,standing up in the process, she then quickly blushed and sat down. "Yes, I would be honored to stay here as a shinobi of Konoha." She said in a more contained voice.

"Perfect, I'll teleport over to Taki as soon as I can to solidify your status here, now as for your living arrangements, I can arrange housing for you to be built immediately, I can call for a clan meeting and see if any of them would be interested in taking you in, or you can stay with me and Naruto."

"I'd like to stay with you two if that's ok." This wasn't real, there's no way it was real. Everything was perfect. She was brought out of her thoughts though by a loud crack at the door.

"Oh no" was all Minato said before the door was sent flying off its hinges and out the window.

 **Across the street, Kumo Hotel**

A turned around on cue to see the door fly out of the window, followed by screaming and shouting. He broke out into a bark like laughter "Ah just like home"

 **Hokage tower**

"MINATO DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH MONEY I WAS ABOUT TO WIN BEFORE YOU TELEPORTED ME HERE?!" Tsunade shouted as she took a step inside the room, cracking the floor as she did so

"Well I suppose it's a good thing I brought you here, my son usually is the one to be injured whenever you win"

Her eyes glanced down to the boy to see him rubbing the back of his head, his eyes slightly glazed over, as if he were having a flashback. This seemed to calm her down some.

"I don't know what you're talking about" she said

"Of course you don't, Naruto care to recount all the injuries you've sustained?" Minato asked with a small grin

"Well let's see there's the time you won the bet on one of Guy and Kakashi's contests, they were seeing who could throw the heaviest object the farthest and right as you won a boulder landed right on my foot, shattering it"

"You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You bet Ero-sennin that I would master the rasengan in one week, when I did and tried to perform it for you all the jutsu backfired and sent me across the village."

"You had poor chakra control then"

"You won at the casino and Ayame spilled every single bowl of ramen on me whenever she came to give me them."

"I can't be blamed for someone else's clumsiness"

"You bet Tousan on the time it would take to complete my ring, first time I tried it on it electrocuted me, bet Ero-sennin on how long it would take me to draw the nine tails chakra out, a rock just came out of nowhere and hit me in the back of the head"

"All of these are just coincidences, stop blaming your bad luck on me you brat" _maybe it is for the better that Minato brought me here, I might've caused the entire tower to collapse_

"Alright Baa-chan name every time that you won, I'll have a time where I was injured"

"Casinos again a few weeks ago"

"I fell out of my room, the glass, which has strengthening seals on it, shattered and I just fell out, I wasn't even near the stupid window"

"Eating contest between Kakashi and Guy"

"One of them threw a bowl when they were finished, of course it hit me and every single piece of glass stabbed me in the side"

"Time to master Severing tornado"

"I was sucked into the jutsu and launched against a tree, which then collapsed on me"

"Healing seals"

"Log to the back of the head, I was in the middle of the village when that happened"

"Spar between your dad and sensei"

"One of the old man's flaming shuriken hit me in the arm, the spar ended five minutes prior, it literally came out of nowhere"

"How about when-"

"Broken ankle"

"What about"

"Broken arm"

"Well there was also-"

"Swarm of bees"

"When I found a ryo on the floor"

"Arrow to the knee, we don't even use arrows, no one in the village does, you're dangerous to my health baa-chan"

"Oh shut up Gaki, you heal fast anyways"

"Ah are we recounting all the times you've caused harm to our godson? We might be here for a while" Jiraiya said as he appeared in a shimmered, sitting in his usual spot on the windowsill.

"I'm going to need some sake Minato, especially since the pervert is here"

"HEY, that's super pervert to you" Jiraiya said with a large grin.

At this point Fuu turned to Naruto and whispered to him "Is it always like this here?"

"Heh yeah pretty much, not too much for you is it?"

"Not at all, it's great, never a dull moment here" she said with a wide smile

"And what might you two lovers be talking about?" Jiraiya said with his trademark grin

"Nothing ero-sennin, worry about getting into Tsunade baa-chan's pants, not my conversations"

"YOU DAMN BRAT!" Tsunade shouted as she punched the back of his head, immediately sending it through the floor. A muffled "ow" rang out.

"Can we please refrain from injuring my son or destroying any more of my office, Fuu would you help Naruto free his head, Lady Tsunade I removed a cursed seal from Sasuke over there, I need you to repair his chakra network as soon as possible as he is a finalist in the exams, Naruto take Fuu and show her around the village and get her moved in already, and Jiraiya-sensei we need to talk" and just like that everyone did as they were told without a moment's hesitation.

"Can you move?" Tsunade asked Sasuke, who had dozed off and managed to stay asleep throughout the entire commotion until she woke him up.

"Yes, it's just minor pain now"

"Those healing seals are life savers, the procedure will take the rest of the day, I'll try to heal you as quick as possible but you will need, at the very least, a day's rest afterwards, follow me"

Naruto grabbed Fuu's hand and ran out the office with her in tow, excited to show her around the village.

"Alright, Anbu leave please" As Minato finished his sentence the air in the room immediately became lighter. Minato and Jiraiya then began drawing various privacy seals all around the room and a few to repair the shattered window and missing door. After a few minutes they were finally done and Minato sat down behind his desk. "Orochimaru is making moves, this sudden boldness is unsettling, and according to our intel he's still with the Akatsuki, we need to be prepared on the day of the tournament."

Jiraiya laced his fingers together, his mind going a mile a second as he ran through various battle strategies. "Well Oto isn't in the tournament, do you have any leads on who he might be impersonating to get in?"

"Have you noticed Rasa acting differently?"

"You don't think he could've killed Rasa do you? Orochimaru is powerful, but to take on a kage, especially one with Rasa's defensive powers"

"Yes but if the reports are true, he would've had help, and one cut from his partner would seal Rasa's fate. We need to be careful though, I'll alert only a handful of jounin and Anbu, I assume you'll handle notifying Tsunade about this, we don't need too many people knowing and causing a panic or starting the fight too early, the element of surprise will be key here."

"Do you think there's a chance of both of them showing up?"

"Yes I do, I'll notify A, perhaps him as an ally will come out of all of this" Minato created five shadow clones that immediately dashed away, all going in different directions.

"Ah shadow clones a ninja's way to look left and right at the same time, or in my case enjoy several-"

"I think that's all I need to know Sensei, wait, looking left and right...I think I just figured it out!"

"Figured what out?"

"The rasengan, I think I just figured out how to perfect it" just then the shadow clones reappeared, each one with a different person "Ah A-dono, Lord third, Itachi, Tenzo, and Kakashi, I'm sure you're all wondering why I've brought you here."

Hiruzen glanced around then chuckled to himself "I see Tsunade is back in the village"

"Why am I here Minato?" At this Minato raised his eyebrow

"Oh please, how long have we been rivals? We can forgo the pleasantries." A said with his signature scowl.

"Well A, I brought all of you here because me and Jiraiya-sensei have been going over battle plans, there will be an invasion during the final exams and I need you all to be prepared for it, but obviously we can't let everyone know as we are unsure of how this was able to be plotted, Kakashi I'd like you to relay this information to the other jounin sensei's as well, no one else needs to know, now, we all need to go over battle strategies"

 **With Naruto**

Currently the blond and his mint haired friend were eating at Ichiraku's, and Fuu, much to everyone's utter shock, was giving Naruto a run for his money on bowls of ramen to be consumed.

"I don't think we have enough bowls for them to keep this up" Teuchi said to Ayame who had been sprinting back and forth between the table and the kitchen, her and Teuchi couldn't keep up with the insane demand of food being consumed between the two.

"And that's twenty for me Fuu-chan, what you're on 18, told you you'll never beat me at this" Naruto said with a wide smile.

"I don't need to eat fast fox face, I just need to eat more than you, which at this rate, there's no way you'll win. I'm still hungry and you already look full"

"Pfft in your dreams bug eyes" _Crap I am getting full and she doesn't look like she's going to stop any time soon_ "Teuchi-jiji another round!"

"You got it Naruto" he said with a wide grin, Naruto was always his best customer, and now with another just like him, well Ichiraku's wouldn't be going out of business any time soon.

 **Several bowls of food later**

"I'm starting to regret that last bowl" Naruto said with his forehead on the table.

"Ha! Told you I'd beat you fox face"

"You had the advantage of this being the first time you've eaten here, the flavors overrode your feeling of getting full"

"Aw don't be like that fox face, take your loss with some dignity" she said with a giant smile as she could already see her comment begin to boil his blood.

 _Don't give her a reaction don't give her a reaction don't give her ah screw it_ "SPARRING MATCH AT THE TRAINING FIELDS RIGHT NOW, LET'S SEE YOU LOSE WITH SOME DIGNITY!"

"Hmmm let me think about that, nope no can do can't do a sparring match right now, sorry fox face, just going to have to accept that I beat you." At this the blond almost visibly deflated "You still have to show me around the village and I have to get moved in"

His mood did a complete 180 and in a flash they were out of the restaurant, leaving behind a large pile of assorted bills and coins.

"How long do you think until they're together?" Ayame said to her Father with a warm smile

"Well it is Naruto, as smart as that boy is, he can be clueless at times" he said with a chuckle as the smoke trail left by the two finally began to dissipate.

* * *

"Alright so we have to get you some proper sleep clothes"

"Do I have to get the hat too?"

He glared lightly at her and almost began to pout "There's nothing wrong with the hat, it's part of the outfit."

The memory of Naruto wearing his sleep hat flashed into her mind and once again she began to laugh almost to the point of tears.

His eyes and mouth drew so tight that they simply looked like three horizontal lines as Fuu continued to laugh.

" _You're lucky you're cute" he grumbled_

" _What? Y-you think I'm cute?"_

" _Of course I do Fuu-chan, you're beautiful, and kind, and just amazing, I love-"_

He was brought out of his mini day-dream by the person of said dream waving her hands in front of him.

"Earth to Naruto"

"Huh, oh sorry, kind of tuned out there."

She smiled "Am I hurting your feelings so much that you have to ignore me?"

He flared his nostrils "Come on let's get you the stupid hat, once you have one you can't make fun of me"

"Aw Naruto-kun, I could never run out of things to make fun of you" the smile she wore threatened to break the confines of her face as smoke began to rise from the top of his head. While she had to admit, teasing the blond was amusing, the main reason she did it was because it brought her joy to know that she had become so close and comfortable with someone that she could tease them in such a way.

 **Now if only you'd admit to yourself how you felt about the boy**

 _Not now Nanabi_ she heard\felt a deep rumbling laughter almost reverberate through her

 **I can only hope the boy makes the first move, otherwise you two will be like this for quite some time**

 _Oh shush, we're FRIENDS Nanabi, friends._

 **How do you know you aren't in love with him Fuu?**

 _I can hear him talking to me, but again we're friends that's all_

"What were you and the Nanabi talking about?"

"Nothing important, she just wanted to bug me"

He raised an eyebrow "Was that a pun?"

"Ah what?"

"A pun, ya know...a pun"

She just stared at him with a blank expression

He just sighed and sweat dropped "I have so much to teach you, anyways the store to get your sleep clothes is on the other side of the village, so that'll be the last place we go to, in the meantime I have to give you an actual tour of everywhere else here so let's go!"

The next few hours were spent with Naruto showing Fuu everywhere around the village and introducing her to each one of his friends. Much to both of their delight, everyone took to her quite well, although Hinata was even more quiet than usual, but Naruto just chalked that up to her being tired, she went through a lot of surgeries the previous day but the medics had told her she was ok again and would be completely healthy in a week or so.

They were finishing up her shopping, with her reluctantly getting a nightcap, when the air around them seemed to drop several degrees.

Naruto looked at the entrance to see Haku standing there wearing the same pink kimono she had worn the first time they had met in the woods. He felt a pang in his chest as she immediately began walking towards him and Fuu.

By the time she reached him Naruto swore he could see his breath.

"I wasn't aware you were back already, I'm assuming you passed?"

"Yeah, of course I did, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without her" he motioned his head towards Fuu "Haku this is Fuu, heh she ah she saved my ass a few times" he said with a smile

Fuu reached her hand out "nice to meet you" she had to refrain from tearing her hand back the second the black haired girl touched her, Fuu thought for sure the brief handshake would leave her with frostbite.

"Nice to meet you as well" she said in a monotone without even glancing at Fuu, almost acting as if she wasn't there.

 _What's her problem_ Fuu felt a deep anger begin to fester inside of her _She's treating me like everyone at Taki does, she hasn't even looked at me for longer than a second_ she felt the all too familiar burning of the Nanabi's chakra as it began to bubble inside of her

 **Fuu control yourself, do you wish to cause a scene?**

She began to focus on her breathing, after a few seconds she no longer felt the burning inside of her.

All of that took place in a matter of seconds, but Naruto nonetheless sensed the quick burst of chakra. "Well it was nice seeing you Haku, but Fuu and I have to be on our way, Tousan is expecting me back in a little bit."

"We'll have to catch up soon, it was nice meeting you Fuu." Haku said, never glancing at the mint haired girl

Fuu gave a simple nod and led the way out of the store, her nightcap not even in a bag.

Once they were out of earshot Naruto walked in front of her, bring the mint haired beauty to a stop

"Hey what happened back there?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"I felt that chakra Fuu-chan, what's going on?"

"I just...just the way she treated me"

"The same way people do in Taki?" He guessed

"Yeah close to the exact same way, what did I even do to her?"

"It's nothing you did, me and her...we were just.." he sighed "She was probably jealous of seeing you with me"

Fuu looked at him and felt a type of pain in her heart, something she hadn't felt before. "Are you two together?" she silently prayed the answer was no, the pain was getting worse by the second.

"NO" he said quickly and rather loudly, "No, we're just friends"

"Oh, for a second there it looked like you two were" The pain lessened immediately _What the hell is wrong with me_

"Nope, nothing like that at all, hey let's get home, you have a lot of unpacking to do" he said as he tapped a scroll fastened to his leg

"Lead the way fox face"

"Bug eyes" he said with a grin before grabbing her hand and taking off in a dash back home.

They arrived at the estate and her eyes went wide "This is where you live? This is going to be where I'll live too?" She asked incredulously

"Yup, home sweet home" he glanced over at her and saw the look of joy plastered all across her face, after a few moments he had to remind himself to not stare. "Come on, you haven't even seen the inside yet"

* * *

"And finally this is your room" Naruto said as he swung the door open to reveal a large room, with a queen sized bed, a connected bathroom, and several seals on the walls. "Heh it's a little bare, it was the guest bedroom after all, next time we're free I'll take you around to go find stuff to decorate it, but do you like it?"

"Like it?" She turned to him and grabbed the blond in a tight embrace "Of course I like it, thank you so much, for everything"

"You're breaking me" he said while trying to breathe

"Sorry" she said after letting him go. There was a visible red tinge to her face.

He simply smiled and handed her the scroll that contained everything they had purchased that day "Well I'll let you get to it, if you need anything just put chakra into the seal on your door, it'll instantly teleport me to your room"

"Alright, I think I got it, goodnight fox face"

"Goodnight Fuu-chan" he said with a smile before walking away towards his room.

* * *

He had just finished getting dressed into his pajamas when the world went spinning and he appeared in Fuu's room. "Oh kami, how does tousan do that?" He was hunched over with his eyes closed, waiting for his extreme dizziness to pass.

"Sorry, sorry, you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine, what's up?"

"I uhm I just wanted to" _what's with me, why can't I just say what I want to_ she couldn't say that she had ever felt whatever she was feeling at that moment before. It was like her tongue was tied in a knot and her stomach was doing flips

Naruto raised an eyebrow and a grin slowly began growing on his face "What's up bug eyes?"

"I don't know, can we just talk?"

"Sure" he said with a smile. He walked over and sat on her bed, she did the same.

 _Think of something, anything..._ "So what's it like always being around two of the Sanin?"

"Well being around Ero-sennin is…

The conversations constantly shifted through the night.

* * *

Minato walked in the house with Jiraiya in tow.

"How was the meeting with Shibuki?"

"He was angry but he agreed to sign over Fuu nonetheless, I doubt he'll be at the tournament though."

"Well overall Minato you did a fantastic job today, I didn't think A would work with us" Jiraiya said as he poured himself some sake.

"Honestly neither did I, but I'm glad I decided to include him in this, he'll be an incredible asset in this fight."

"I'm surprised, Naruto's asleep already" he began giggling "I wonder what he and his new friend were doing that exhausted him so much"

"Please don't start sensei, anyways I'm going to tell him goodnight" Minato walked to his room only to see that his son wasn't there _Perfect just perfect_ he walked back down to see Jiraiya with a shit-eating grin

"He wasn't there was he?" His voice dropped to his "pervert voice" as he liked to call it.

Minato just sighed.

In a flash Jiraiya was up and drawing a seal on the wall to Fuu's room

"What are you doing?!" Minato whispered\shouted

"Hehe writing an x-ray seal"

"You can't do that"

"Ah why not Minato, I gotta see if the Gaki has become a man yet"

"Please have mercy on him Kushina" Minato said while looking up

Jiraiya just rolled his eyes and continued at his seal. …"almost there...Got it, now let's see what those two were up to" he immediately began giggling and writing furiously in his notebook

"Well?"

"It looks like they didn't do anything, they're asleep on the side of the bed. They were probably talking and dozed off, but doesn't mean that it's not a great little scene for my next book...let's see...after a long and draining battle the brave hero comforted the damsel after all she had witnessed...this is golden ah these two are going to make me even richer"

"Alright come on Sensei, we still have a lot of preparations to make, the teleporting seals for the academy alone are going to take some time."

He let out an exasperated sigh "I suppose you're right, making sure the civilians and academy students are out of here is our top priority."

Minato pulled a scroll out that already had several formulas, as he began walking away. Jiraiya followed after, his own scroll in hand.

* * *

Fuu woke up first as usual. She had fallen asleep on her side, Naruto had fallen asleep in a similar position so the first thing she saw was his face. A slight blush graced her face as she rolled onto her back, lost in thought.

 _Nanabi_

 **Yes Fuu?**

 _How would I...how does it feel..._ she couldn't think of what she exactly wanted to ask, prior to meeting Naruto she barely knew what happiness had felt like. At that point she didn't have a word for whatever she felt when Naruto was around her.

 **No one knows what it feels like at first child but I can safely tell you that what you feel for the Kyuubi's host goes farther than friendship, if that's what you're asking**

 _Yes, that's exactly what I was trying to ask_

It had been three weeks since they arrived at Konoha and every night ended the same, Naruto and Fuu would lie down and just talk about anything and everything until they would fall asleep.

The past three weeks had been grueling for her, while the Anbu pushed her to her limits at times, they were nothing compared to the regime Jiraiya and Minato had put her and Naruto through. They wanted her and Naruto to have greater use of their bijuu, and with whom they were fighting in the finals, Fuu couldn't blame them. Naruto was fighting a power hungry lunatic and she was fighting an actual demon. The more they could draw on their bijuu, the better. The training had strengthened her and the Nanabi's relationship, but the beetle limited her to only four tails, warning her that what came with the fifth tail wasn't pleasant and that she couldn't handle it yet.

Naruto, on the other hand, had to have his seal loosened to access the Kyuubi's chakra, and he had more trouble than usual controlling it. It had taken a week of trying to get better control for his eyes to lose their slight red tinge and revert back to their natural cerulean. The chakra seemed a lot more potent as well as Minato had said that Naruto was much more aggressive than he usually got while training. Thankfully she was always able to calm him down relatively easy.

Minato and Jiraiya had also given her a proper seal so she finally got rid of the oversized chakra container, something that she didn't know if she could ever repay back to them. The seal was similar to Naruto's as it allowed the Nanabi's chakra to filter into her chakra networks much more naturally than it had been before. The Nanabi was also happy at having all her chakra back as well.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Naruto waking up.

"Good morning Fuu-chan"

"Morning fox face"

He took in a deep breath and let out an exaggerated sigh "Don't start with me bug eyes"

"Or what? Hmm?"

He grinned "Just wait until our next sparring match"

"Like you could ever beat me, it's been a tie every match" she flashed a wide smile "Common it's time to get our day started"

A few minutes later and the two were sat at the table along with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Minato.

"The tournament is approaching quickly so the rest of this week we're going to lighten your training, so feel free to take today off." Minato said with a smile

"Well Tsunade it looks like I have the day off today" Jiraiya said with a large grin

"Get any closer to me and I'll send you across the village" she said without looking up from her meal causing him to visibly deflate at his efforts being shot down so casually. Unfortunately for himself, Jiraiya immediately gained a devious look in his eye and a lecherous grin

"Well this seems like it's going to end well, come on Fuu, it's going to get messy in here real quick" Naruto said with a small smile as he and Fuu stood up. At the same moment Jiraiya shimmered away, activating his chameleon jutsu

"I just finished fixing everything from last time" Minato said with a sigh

Naruto and Fuu hadn't taken two steps out of the door when Jiraiya went flying out from the roof, a trail of blood and a slew of swears trailing after him.

"Well that ended exactly how I figured it would" Naruto said with a sigh

"How often does that happen?"

"Too often, I think the trauma is why he never learns"

Fuu was about to respond when the sounds of footsteps reached her ears. She quickly turned around to see Sakura walking towards Naruto and her.

"Hey Sakura, what's up?" Naruto said with a grin

"Well I heard that Fuu is an official leaf kunoichi and figured we all needed a girls day. The other kunoichi are waiting for us and the boys are at Ichiraku's, you two will be fine without spending a day together" Sakura said with a grin. Before anyone could protest, she immediately grabbed Fuu's arm and pulled her away "Tell Sasuke-kun I said Hi!" Sakura shouted, leaving Naruto dumbfounded as to what just happened.

"Alright well off to Ichiraku's then" he mumbled as he began a leisurely pace to his favorite restaurant.

* * *

 **With Fuu**

Sakura looked over at the mint haired girl, "My official mission for the day is to break you out of that shell" she put her hand on Fuu's shoulder, "You're one of us now, and all leaf ninja have each other's back"

Fuu gained a small smile _Thank you Naruto, for everything_ "Where are we going?"

"Don't you worry about that, I have a full day planned" Sakura said with a bright smile

* * *

 **With Naruto**

"Go Choji go, Go Choji go!"

Teuchi had managed to get his hands on a new type of pepper rumored to be the hottest in existence. To advertise his new item, he had created a challenge, anyone who could make it through a single bowl would get their next five bowls for free. So far, at the halfway mark, Choji was the farthest anyone had made it.

All of the boys, excluding Neji, were present and cheering Choji on, who had turned a bright red shade.

"Glad to see you finally decided to hang out with us" Kiba said with a smile as he lightly punched Naruto's shoulder, disturbing him from enjoying his bowl of ramen.

Sasuke glared at Naruto from the corner of his eyes

"Hehe yeah sorry guys, I've been busy these past few weeks"

Kiba nudged his sides playfully "How busy we are we talking here"

Naruto blushed slightly "We're just friends"

"Oh so you wouldn't mind if I asked her out?"

"As long as you don't mind getting sent through a wall, she might end up killing you if you keep it up"

"Ah that's just how you know my charm is working, one day it's a wall, the next time it's a dent, after that not even a crack and so on until it's just playful punching that leads to more fun stuff"

"And how is your charm working out so far?"

"I uh haven't made it passed the wall part just yet but I'm close with a few girls"

"You're going to end up with more head trauma than the pervy sage"

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Sasuke had managed to sneak into the back, take part of the pepper, and crush it into Naruto's bowl of ramen while him and Kiba had been talking.

"Well Kiba, as interesting as this is, I'm going back to my ramen." With a greedy look in his eye, Naruto brought an extra large spoonful of the dish to his mouth.

His scream echoed throughout the entire village.

* * *

 **With Fuu**

"Did you hear that?" Fuu's voice gave way to some concern she felt.

"That...that kind of sounded like Naruto" Sakura said, a confused look placed on her face

"Maybe we should go check on him?" Fuu couldn't help the hopeful look that creeped onto her face.

"Oh he's with the other guys, I'm sure they're all fine, plus we haven't even hit the first destination of our day"

"Which is where exactly?" Fuu questioned

"You'll see, don't worry it'll be fun, I promise."

After some more walking and idle conversation, their destination finally appeared-the hot springs.

"The uh the hot springs huh?" Against her best efforts, a touch of timidness seeped its way into Fuu's voice.

Sakura looked over to Fuu and was reminded of herself when she was a child. She gave the jinchuriki a smile "Don't worry Fuu, it'll be fun and if you want to leave early I'll help you find Naruto, ok?"

"Ok, thank you" _I can do this, I've fought against Anbu, my former teammate is a psychopath, I have a demon inside of me, what's a day spending time with new people._

A few minutes later Sakura and Fuu were in the water accompanied by Ino, Tenten, Hinata, and Haku. All of the girls were sharing stories and talking, except for Fuu who had remained quiet the entire time.

Haku glanced over at her, "Fuu"

She glanced up, a slightly startled look on her face

"I'd like to apologize for my behavior a few days ago, I was just surprised to see Naruto again."

Fuu took a moment to ponder what was said before replying "Thank you I do appreciate the apology" She gave a small smile.

Unbeknownst to both girls, Hinata had given them a slight glare before directing her gaze away.

"Speaking of Naruto, how's living with him?" Sakura asked

"It's nice, there's never a dull moment with Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade and Naruto is great to be around." a small smile had made its way to her face while she talked.

"That's nice and all but what I really want to know is how he is in bed." Ino said with a devious grin

"Ino!" Sakura shouted

"What?" she gave a laugh "Well Fuu? Don't keep us in suspense."

Hinata felt her muscles tighten as a pain went through her entire being

"It's nothing like that, we're just friends is all"

Ino was about to say something else when the sounds of footsteps reached everyone's ears.

"Mind if we join?" Temari asked, accompanied by Karui and Samui

"Not at all come right in" Ino said with a smile

The air seemed heavier as the three kunoichi entered the water and the conversation died down a bit. Temari smiled slightly and looked around _Have to play the part don't need them suspicious_ "So what were all of you talking about?"

"Well Fuu here was telling us about Naruto" Sakura said tentatively

"Oh the cute blond with the whiskers, keep talking" a small smile graced her face

Fuu looked over at Temari, her eyes tightened slightly "Well…

* * *

 **With Naruto**

"Alright to my left I have a boulder, RASENGAN" in one swift motion he slammed the mass of chakra into the large rock, shattering it completely "Heh beat that"

All of the boys were gathered in one of the training arenas, various rocks and logs all around them. They had a challenge to see who had the most destructive jutsu in their arsenal.

"Pfft no problem, Gatsuga!" Kiba slammed right into another boulder, however instead of shattering it, he stopped dead in his path and fell face first to the floor. "Stupid rock"

"Pathetic" Sasuke said

Kiba sat upright "Yeah let's see you do better, moody bastard"

"Move then"

Kiba got up and walked over to where everyone else was sitting at.

Sasuke activated his sharingan and went through a flurry of seals before putting his arm out towards the ground, lightning encompassing his hand. "CHIDORI" he shouted before rushing at incredible speeds. His hand made contact with the rock and continued to push through it until his arm was buried in it. He then pulled his arm out, tearing chunks of rock with him, leaving a gaping hole where his arm once was. He looked at Kiba and Naruto, both had looks of shock on their faces.

"Looks like you're not the only one with a super powerful jutsu now." Choji said

"Thanks Choji." Naruto replied, his voice with a tinge of sadness. _I didn't know Kakashi sensei was training him too_ "Alright Lee let's see what you can do."

"I will try my best" Lee said before taking off at a full sprint "Leaf Hurricane!" the kick connected with a tree, completely splitting it in half, sending shattered pieces of wood all over.

"Geez, what about you Shikamaru, you got anything powerful?" Naruto asked

"Even if I did, it'd be too troublesome to actually use a jutsu right now." he said in the same monotone voice

"Lazy Bastard, Choji let's see what you got."

"Partial expansion jutsu" His arm stretched out and grew to extreme sizes before coming down onto the ground, leaving a large crater in his wake.

"Damn it, I really thought I'd win, oh well still did better than Kiba" Naruto said with a laugh

"Screw you" Kiba replied, his hands still ached from slamming into the rock.

The sun was slowly making it's way down, bathing the area in orange light.

"I think it's time for me and Akamaru to head home, all of you guys better beat your first rounds, good luck."

"Thank you for the youthful words Kiba I will do my best." Lee said before he too walked away.

"Come on Shika, Ino said she wanted to meet up with us tonight we better get going." Choji said

"I'll be right there, Naruto, Sasuke."

The two turned and looked at the spiky haired teen.

"Asuma and Kurenai have been acting weirder than usual lately, keep an eye out during the tournament, I have a weird feeling about it."

Their eyes hardened and the two boys gave Shikamaru a nod of understanding

The three began walking their separate ways before Sasuke turned to Naruto "You better win your fight in the first round."

"Heh you too, then we can see which of us is stronger." with that the two boys turned and walked back home.

Naruto got home to find Fuu waiting for him in the living room.

"How was your day with everyone?" he asked

"It was really good, thank you Naruto-kun"

"Huh? What for?"

"Just for everything." She said with a smile, the day's events still replaying in her head.

He gave a wide smile, "I'm going to shower, meet you in your room in a bit."

A few minutes later and the two teens were laying on Fuu's bed in their usual manner.

"Well tell me about your day what happened."

"Well first we all went to the bath house and just talked and told stories there." She omitted the fact that much of the conversation there had revolved around him. "After that TenTen took me to her family's store where they got me more gear and after that they all took me shopping for more clothes."

"I'm happy you had a great time, see I told you you'd love it here."

"Thank you again fox face."

"Bug eyes" he said while reaching over himself to deliver a playful punch. "Get some rest Fuu we'll probably have some final training tomorrow." he looked over at her to see that she was fast asleep already. The full weight of his eyelids finally hit him and as he drifted off to sleep one thought rang out in his head _I love her_.

* * *

They both woke with a start before smiling "Today's the day" the said in unison and in a flash Naruto was in his room getting changed while Fuu did the same. They met back in the kitchen where Minato Jiraiya and Tsunade were all waiting, breakfast already served.

"You two ready?" Jiraiya asked.

"Ready to kick Ahiko's ass." Naruto said, his mouth full of food

"Don't get cocky, just like you have new abilities he's sure to as well, be careful and be fast you don't need to reveal too much of your techniques the first round." Jiraiya stated before smiling "And both of you kick some ass."

Tsunade looked at them and smiled "I'll make sure to bet against you two."

"Heh thanks baachan." His shit eating grin threatened to break the confines of his face.

Tsunade began grinding her teeth while saying "Go to the stadium now before I send you there myself" her face seething.

"Aha yeah I think that's a good idea, come on Fuu, fast please."

"Smart." was all Tsunade said as the blond left a smoke trail in his wake.

* * *

 **At the Stadium**

Minato stood in the middle of the battle arena, the genin lined up before him. "Alright the rules are the exact same as the preliminaries the only thing different here is that all of you will report to individual rooms in the stadium while you wait for your match to begin, we don't want anyone to start fighting until they're supposed to. The rooms will have windows to see the fight and seals that will allow you to hear everything as if you were on the field itself. I wish all of you good luck, head to your rooms which will have your names labeled on them. The first round will begin shortly. And with that Minato teleported to the Hokage's booth. Rasa, A, and all their bodyguards were already there.

* * *

Naruto and Fuu walked together until they were at her room. "Good luck today Fuu-chan, kick his ass."

"You too Naruto-kun, give Ahiko a beating from me too." she said with a smile.

Despite seeing her immense strength and overall superb fighting ability, worry still gnawed at Naruto. His worry apparently showed as Fuu said "I'll be fine, I won't lose to him, stop worrying."

He gave a nod and the two embraced in a hug that ended much too soon to the blond as a notice rang out for all contestants to enter their rooms. Fuu turned away and began walking into her room. At the last second Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her in. "Wha-

"Come back to me" was all he said as he pulled the mint haired girl into a kiss. Her mind went blank as her body was filled with a type of happiness she had never felt before. He pulled away and headed towards his room, not looking back to see her reaction.

The message sounded off again, snapping Fuu to reality as she quickly walked into her room, her mind still not believing what happened.

 **Alright wow it's been a year I am so sorry for taking this long especially on a filler chapter. I had an incredibly packed and busy year that left me with hardly anytime to write this so I do sincerely apologize I'll try to have the next chapter out soon. With that I will see you all next time**


End file.
